Fateful Knowledge
by Ilada'Jefiv
Summary: As FBI agent Lance Lasgalen, Legolas struggles to fit in with the world of men. After a mysterious call, Legolas and the twin sons of Elrond must discover who is pursuing them before their secret is revealed. HIATUS
1. Friends and Suspicions

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing of LOTRs and make no money from this fic. Shawn, Ashley, and Andre are mine, however, and cannot be used without my permission.

**Warnings: **None yet. There will be no romance or extreme violence in this fic.

**A/N: **_Suilaid_, readers! This is my first LOTRs fanfic and is **very **AU. I have always enjoyed the modern day fics and decided to try my hand at one. I do not think this fic will be very long; not much more than four chapters, I think. I hope you all enjoy!

** Fateful Knowledge **

– – – – – – – –

**Chapter One: Friends and Suspicions**

Legolas parked his silver Pontiac and climbed out into the warm evening air. He walked up to his house, a modern log cabin, savoring the sweetness of the air and listening to the songs of the birds. The sound of the creek called him and the trees whispered their welcomes. He glanced up at the thick green branches above him and returned the greetings with a smile.

He sprang up the porch steps two at a time and unlocked the door, stepping into the coolness. With a bark and a wagging tail, his golden retriever, Evenstar, jumped up and placed her paws on his chest and attempted to lick his face. Laughing, he ruffled her ears and pushed her down.

"Easy now, girl," he said fondly. "I missed you, too." Evenstar gave him a doggy grin and pranced toward the stairs, ready for their usual ritual. He followed her, and together they raced up the stairway, Legolas reaching the top a second before the dog and grinned down at her. "I beat you this time."

Evenstar took the defeat gracefully and simply wagged her tail. Shaking his head, Legolas opened his bedroom door. For a moment, he just stood there, lost in memories. There was a royal but plain elegance to the room, and it was carefully designed after his former room in his father's palace. His bow, the one he had received from Galadriel, hung on the wall above the intricately engraved headboard of the bed alongside his knives.

He had come such a long way from his former life… He stepped forward, jarring himself from the pensive thoughts he knew would bring painful memories. This was not Middle Earth, or even Valinor for that matter, this was America. No more was he known as Prince Legolas of Mirkwood, but as Lance Lasgalen, FBI agent.

He walked across the wood floor and sank down on his bed, staring at the bow and wondering how long it had been since he had drawn it. Fully a decade, probably. Everything had been so busy since he had returned from Valinor. He did not know why he had returned. Perhaps, it was just that he missed the world he had grown up in. Perhaps, he had just need the excitement and adventure which the undying lands did not have. Nearly a thousand years had passed since he had returned, and the world had changed around him, moving on in science and technology and forgetting the things that meant the most. Things like family and friends were laid aside in exchange for money and prestige, and the world of men grew more and more corrupt.

With a small sigh, he stood and quickly changed from a business suit into faded jeans and a tee shirt. After another moment of contemplation, he crossed to a chest and dug through its contents. Fishing out a pair of arm guards, he laced them on and grabbed his bow. Pausing out of habit to make sure his shoulder length hair covered his ears, he started for the stairs, snagging his quiver on the way out. He would always be himself, no matter how the world changed.

Five minutes later, he stood scowling at the paper target he had hastily tacked to a five gallon bucket. He could never have imagined how out of practice one could get in one short decade. He had missed the bull's eyes by three inches! He couldn't believe himself. Blue eyes flashing, he drew and notched a second arrow, taking more care with his aim. Holding his breath, he released the shaft, watching with dissatisfaction as it lodged itself two inches from the center. Sending the innocent paper another glare, he reached for a third arrow.

"You know, Lance, if looks could do the intent of their giver, that paper would be ash now."

Legolas spun around, arrow notched and pointed at the new comer. Then he quickly lowered it. "Shawn, do not frighten me so," he complained, turning away from the grinning young man and setting his attention back on the target. He knew he should feel embarrassed, as no one had managed to surprise him for a number of decades, but he was too frustrated at the moment.

"I apologize," Shawn said, sauntering over, hands deep in his pockets. His grey eyes studied the bow thoughtfully. "I did not know you did archery."

Legolas ignored him for the moment, not moving his gaze from his target. _Pretend it's an yrch,_ he told himself. _Pretend you are saving Estel for the 107__th__ time. _Smiling slightly at the thought, he drew back the string and fired. His smile widened as the arrow struck the center, and without pausing, he fired again, splitting the first arrow in two.

He glanced at a gaping Shawn and laughed. "Yes, I have been doing it my whole life."

Shawn grinned. "I see. Well, are you going to come?"

"Come where?" Legolas answered inattentively, studying the fletching of one of his arrows.

"The gamer party, Mr. Absent Minded Professor," Shawn retorted playfully. "Don't tell me you forgot about it. Everybody else from collage will be there."

Legolas blinked, suddenly remembering. "Oh, yes," he answered quickly. "Let me grab my arrows, and I'll be ready."

He jogged across the green grass, resisting the urge to bend down and run his hands over the softness. It so often reminded him of the grass in his favorite glade in Ithilien. _Keep you mind in the present, _he reprimand himself. _Just relax and have fun tonight. _ He did not know why he felt so out of things tonight. Perhaps the stresses of work were getting to him. He sighed, pulling the arrows carefully from the target and placing them in the quiver. He had once thought that Middle-Earth was dangerous and stressful, and at times, it had been, but it in no way compared to the modern world.

The thought of Middle-Earth caused a fresh wave of sorrow and melancholy to wash over him. The face of one always floated before in his mind's eyes when he thought of that long changed place. _Estel. _Despite his friend's habits of picking up every odd name which crossed his path, Legolas always thought of him by his childhood name. _Hope. _For he had been hope for both elves and men, a shinning ray of light which rent the darkness and brought life and joy.

Fresh, agonizing grief washed over him again, as his friend's last moments flashed through his mind once more. Only the awareness that Shawn's eyes were on his back kept him from breaking down into tears.

Immortality was a curse, he thought somewhat bitterly. He lived on while his mortal friends died around him, leaving him alone. For many centuries since his return from Valinor, he had been careful never to form attachments with anyone, afraid of feeling afresh the pain of loosing a friend. Then came Shawn and gang. They had wormed in through his defenses and befriended him despite his attempts at aloofness and refusal to speak of his past. They naturally thought him to be in his early to mid twenties and worked their hardest to get him to do things which many young men his 'guessed' age did. Such as play Xbox 360. It was an astonishing waste of time to game, but Legolas participated because they loved it and because he had all the time in the world anyway. The last thought earned a bitter smile.

"Lance? Are you alright?" Shawn's concerned voice broke into his thoughts, and a hand was placed on his shoulder, making him wonder how long he had stood lost in memories.

For a moment, Legolas did not reply but placed his hand on the bark of a tree, drawing upon its strength as he listened to its soothing whispers. Finally, he hid his emotions under an easy smile and turned back to his friend.

"I am alright," he said quietly. "I was just thinking. I'll put the bow and quiver in the house quick." Turning from a rather puzzled Shawn, he ran up the hill to the front of the house and gently laid the precious bow on the table with the quiver. His fingers lingered on the wood, and memories once more threatened to take him over, but the sound of a car on the driveway outside rescued him.

Evenstar ran to the door and barked eagerly, bursting out as soon as he opened it. Two identical faces stared back at him as two identical figures slammed shut the doors of a yellow corvette. Two identical pairs of grey eyes sparkled, and two identical voices rang out. "Legolas!"

A moment later, he was crushed in the embraces of the twins. A bit startled, Legolas returned their embrace, hissing in an ear, he wasn't sure whose, "It is Lance Lasgalen, and I have a guest!"

The two immediately let him go and glanced quickly around before satisfying themselves that there was no one yet in sight. "We have not seen you in forever," one Legolas tentatively identified as Elrohir said.

Elladan?? snorted. "You must be half mortal if you think that twenty years is a long time, little brother."

Legolas laughed, glad indeed to see the two who had insisted on coming with him on his return journey from Valinor. They looked different now, in jeans and polo shirts with their dark hair cut shorter than his own but still covering their ears. "What trouble have you been stirring since we last met?" he asked eagerly, leading them over to the porch, Shawn temporarily forgotten. "Start with the names you are going by now."

"Daniel and Rowen Rivendell," Elladan answered, leaning against the wood railing as Elrohir sat beside Legolas. "That way you can still call us Dan and Ro. Rivendell is because we because we through Imladris would be slightly difficult for a last name."

"Perhaps you were just unable to get any more unique," Legolas prodded. "Now tell me everything that has befallen you."

"We haven't got into any trouble," Elrohir insisted, seeming slightly miffed. "We never get into trouble; it always finds us."

Legolas raised an eyebrow, carefully copying Lord Elrond, and the twins laughed despite themselves. "Well, _ada_," Elladan said with mock meekness, "I suppose we have gotten ourselves into a few unpleasant situations…"

"…but we escaped without compromising our identity," Elrohir finished, grinning at Legolas. "We had great fun since we left you, though. We went to Paris, London, Vienna, skied in the Alps, explored the ruins in Greece, went to Rome, Jerusalem, Berlin –"

"You would love the Alps, Legola – Lance," Elladan interrupted his twin. "Lots of space and forests. Plenty of trees to talk to."

Legolas shoved him lightly. "I've been there, and the trees no longer speak." A shadow fell over his face and swallowed the brief lightheartedness. "Few do anymore. Most have fallen asleep."

Elrohir laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and seemed about to speak when Elladan exclaimed, "Ah, here comes your guest, _Lance._"

Legolas glanced over to see Shawn round the corner, the perplexed expression on his face increasing when he saw the twins. Legolas rose and gestured at him. "Hey, Shawn, these are my friends Daniel and Rowen Rivendell. Dan and Ro, this is my friend Shawn Harson."

Shawn erased the bewilderment from his face and shook hands cordially. "You all look as if you could be related," he remarked.

The twins exchanged a rather offended look. "Who in their right mind would be related to…Lance?" Elrohir said, grinning cheekily.

Legolas sighed in exasperation. "Who in their right mind would have _anything_ to do with _you _two?"

"Well, that proves you're not in your right mind, Lance," Elladan returned.

Legolas rolled his eyes and ignored the twins' laughter. "You guys run inside like good little…boys," he bit himself off before he could say elflings, "and make yourselves at home. I have to go to Shawn's."

"They can come too, if they want," Shawn offered. He turned to the twins. "We're gaming tonight. Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War, and probably a spattering of others."

Elladan glanced at Elrohir, who nodded. "Sure," the elder twin said, "it would be dull here without Lance to torment."

Legolas groaned, but his eyes sparkled, betraying his joy at seeing his friends again. "You two will be the death of me," he muttered so only the twins could hear, as they walked toward Shawn's black pickup. "Watch your mouths and don't say anything suspicious or unusual." Elladan and Elrohir just grinned at him and climbed in the back seat of the truck.

"So," Shawn said, turning on the truck and pulling out of the driveway, "how long have you guys known each other?"

The three elves exchanged amused glances. "Longer than I care to elaborate on," Legolas said a touch sourly, though he smiled.

"Don't mind him," Elrohir told Shawn. "We're not half so bad."

"You can never imagine," Legolas muttered. "There are times when I'd rather fight my way through a terrorist cell than deal with you two."

"That's only when you're in your 'work mood,' Elrohir retorted. "You have fun-phobia at times like that. All you want to do is work, work, work."

Legolas shot him a warning glance over his shoulder. "We'll speak on this later, 'Ro."

Elrohir caught the glance and wisely steered the subject in a different direction. "How is work, anyway?"

"I'm actually on a two week break," Legolas replied. "You came at the right time." He frowned back at them. "You could have called."

The twins grinned roguishly at him. "We wanted to give you a surprise."

"You certainly succeeded," Legolas said, throwing the matching elves a glare.

Shawn flicked the blinker on and slid into the right turn lane, smiling at the friends' banter. "Sorry, guys, but I got to stop at Wal-Mart quick and grab some pop quick."

"Mountain Dew!" 'Dan and 'Ro chorused.

"No!" Legolas exclaimed in horror. "Not caffeine! The last thing you two need is caffeine. Get something sensible, like Root Beer or Sprite."

Shawn shrugged, as he pulled into the parking lot and eased the large truck into a parking place. "Sure, whatever." He switched off the truck and glanced at Legolas. "You guys gonna come in?"

The three elves looked at each other and nodded. "Sure."

Clambering out of the truck, they strolled across the parking lot toward the store. "I haven't been to a Wal-Mart before," Elladan remarked. "Nice place?"

Legolas raised an eyebrow. "It's not The Outback, if that's what you're saying. I think it's okay for a normal plebeian store, though. Nice low prices."

Shawn grinned and hitched in his stride as the doors took their sweet time in opening. "I like it," he said as they walked into the cool building. "As you said, Lance, nice low prices."

The elves trailed after Shawn as he led them to the isle with all the carbonated drinks. "You know," Elladan said quietly, so only Legolas and Elrohir could hear, "it is amazing how far the _edain _have advanced themselves." He fingered a bottle of wine, the melancholy expression giving way to a smile. "But no matter how much they improve themselves, the wine only gets worse."

Legolas and Elrohir laughed, but a shadow seemed to have fallen over the younger twin. "I miss the old days," he said softly.

Legolas nodded. "I agree," he murmured. "I'd have a horse over a car any day and a bow and quiver at my back instead of a pistol at my side."

"Those were the days," Elladan concurred, grey eyes sparkling. "I miss hiding snakes in Arwen's bed –"

"Harmless ones, of course," Elrohir interjected.

"– calling Legolas _hir nín_," Elladan continued, paying no heed to heed to his brother, but jumping out of the way as said 'lord' swatted at him, "listening to tales in the Hall of Fire, helping patch Estel and Legolas up after their every adventure, but mostly…" The levity faded from his face. "I missed Arwen and Estel."

The others nodded, clearly lost in memories, when Legolas' cell phone rang. Starting with surprise, he fished it out of his pocket with a sigh and flicked it open. "Lasgalen here."

"_I wish to speak with you, Agent Lasgalen," _a low voice on the other line said, putting him immediately on his guard.

"Who is this?" he asked, suspicion laced heavily in his tone.

"_Meet me in the bar on Main street_," the man continued, ignoring his question. "_Will you be there_?"

"I'm not going anywhere to meet anyone until I know who this is," Legolas retorted sharply.

"_I'm not inclined to say_," the man replied smoothly. "_Just keep your line open if you refuse to come. You may be receiving a call from someone you know in a few hours_."

The phone clicked, and Legolas lowered it with a scowl. "He's an idiot."

"Who was that?" Shawn asked, stepping back over with a liter of Root Beer in one hand and a Mountain Dew in the other.

"I don't know," he answered. Seeing their confused faces, he sighed. "Just work. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." Seeing the Mountain Dew, he raised an eyebrow. "I hope you have good house insurance, Shawn. 'Dan and 'Ro have a tendency to bounce _though_ walls rather than _off _them."

"Lance!" the twins protested in unison. "You really have become a pessimist since the last time we saw you."

Legolas shook his head in exasperation, and Shawn laughed.

o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o

Ashley, Shawn's brown haired sister, met them at the door and greeted Legolas coyly before taking the pop and disappearing into the kitchen.

"Watch yourself," Shawn whispered in his ear as they made their way to the couch. "She still has a major crush on you."

Elladan and Elrohir snickered, and Legolas rolled his eyes. "_Still_? When is that girl going to give up on me and continue with life?"

"Not until the world ends," Shawn said with a grin. "She's pretty determined to win her way into your good graces. She spent nearly an hour on her makeup when she heard you were coming over tonight."

"Joy," Legolas muttered. It wasn't that he disliked Ashley, he just had no interest in romance, much less to a mortal. When he returned to Valinor, he might possibly pursue the thought of marriage but not now, definitely not now.

Over the next half hour, five other young men from Shawn's collage arrived, introductions were made, and the x-boxes hooked up. Halo 3 was decided on, and they customized their characters and picked a mission on Slayer.

Elladan and Elrohir had never be ed x-box 360, but they caught on swiftly and gained the top two ranking places, shocking everyone with their quick reflexes. Elladan immediately fell in love with the shotgun, while Elrohir centered his affections on the energy sword. Legolas stalked the shadows with a sniper rifle since it was the closest thing he could get to his bow, and overall, they had a good time.

However, as darkness fell, Legolas' heart grew troubled, and his gaze kept straying to the door. The call he had received earlier kept repeating itself in his mind, and he felt a shiver run up his spine when he recalled the other's voice. It had been perfectly professional, yet there had been an air of menace to in that promised ill will. His cell's caller ID had told him that the call had been received from a payphone, and he could not help but wonder whom the person was and what he wanted.

"Lance, are you still here?" Shawn's voice broke into his musing, and he looked up just in time to see Elrohir stab him with an energy sword.

"Yes," he answered absently, fingers playing with the cushion beside him as he waited for his character to respawn. "Good kill, 'Ro."

"I'm five kills ahead of you now," the younger twin warned him. "Better hurry if you want to catch up."

At that moment, Legolas' cell phone rang, and he set down his controller. "Sorry, guys," he said, pulling the small flip phone from his pocket and stepping into the kitchen.

"Lance Lasgalen," he said, holding the phone to his ear as he snagged a pop can off the counter.

"Lance, it's Jared Martin."

"Jared," Legolas exclaimed, wondering at the dread he heard in the voice of his government contact. Jared was the only one who knew who he and the twins really were and provided them everything they needed to seem like normal citizens. "What is wrong?"

"Someone broke into my office."

Legolas blinked. "What? How? Your office is in the pentagon –"

"Yes, exactly," Jared broke in impatiently. "No one but a high official would be able to get into my office." He hesitated. "Whoever broke in took nothing but my files about you and the twins."

Legolas could not hold in a sigh. "I see."

"Where ever you are, you must leave," Jared continued. "You are no longer safe until we have found and detained the perpetrator."

"What will you accuse him of?" Legolas asked rather sharply. "Breaking in and stealing files that you cannot tell anyone about? And what about you? What makes you think you are any safer than me?"

For a long moment, there was no reply. "Lance, they are looking for me."

"Then leave!" Legolas exclaimed. "Meet us someone, U.K., France, where?"

Another pause. "I can't. My every move is watched. I already tried running."

"Jared –"

"Just leave now, Lance! Don't come for me! Hang up now!"

"Jared –"

"Hang up now!"

There was the crack of a pistol and the sound of a falling body. Jared's phone hit the ground with a loud thud, causing Legolas to grimace and pulled his cell phone slightly away from his ear.

"Jared!" he called desperately. Footsteps approached on the other line, and he snapped shut his cell phone. He stood there in the middle of the kitchen, staring sightlessly at the cell phone, his heart racing and mind whirling.

A minute later, Shawn and Elladan stuck there heads in the kitchen. "Lance, what's wrong?" the mortal asked with concern.

Legolas stood silently, his elvish hearing suddenly hearing the sound of many muffled booted feet approaching, as if those approaching were attempting to remain as quiet as possible.

Abruptly, he spun to face them, face set. "Shawn, for your own safety, you do not know me or the twins and have never seen us."

Shawn stared at him. "What?"

Legolas turned to Elladan. "Compromised," he said briefly. "Get 'Ro, we leave now."

Shawn stepped up, face confused. "What is going on?"

Legolas opened his mouth and shut it. "I'm not at liberty to say, Shawn."

The doorbell rang.

"_Rhaich_!" Legolas spat. "'Ro, _tolo hi_!"

He turned to Shawn. "Answer the door slowly."

At that moment, Elrohir bounced into the room, looking angry and concerned. "What?"

"Just come!" Legolas turned and vanished out the back door, followed by confused twins and leaving an equally bewildered Shawn.

"Legolas, what is going on?" Elrohir hissed as he quietly shut the door behind him.

"What is wrong with Jared?" Elladan added.

"He has been shot," Legolas said shortly. "We've been compromised, someone is after us, and they are here." He slid up to the window. "However, I can't leave until I know Shawn and the others won't be hurt." He glanced over at them. "Do you have pistols?"

They shook their heads, their minds quickly absorbing and analyzing the information he told them. "We left ours in our car."

"Then leave," Legolas bit out, watching the front door carefully. "I'll come when the others are alright."

"No," Elladan exclaimed softly. "They won't hurt them, we are who they want."

"We don't know what they will do," Legolas retorted. "I will not take any chances or let innocents suffer because of me. Go to the church, New Hope, on River road and wait for me there. If I do not arrive by morning, I won't be coming. If that is so, find Jared, and see if he is still alive."

Elladan and Elrohir stood their ground stubbornly. "We won't leave you."

"Cursed Noldor stubbornness," Legolas groaned. "You will only be a hindrance to me. You have no weapons and they will most likely have AR 15s or SIGs. Please, _mellyn nin_."

Finally, reluctantly, the twins nodded and disappeared into the darkness, Elladan hissing over his shoulder, "We'll get you for this, Legolas…"

Legolas merely smiled and turned his attention back to the window.

Shawn exited the kitchen and stepped up to the door, opening it. Scarcely had he done so, when a uniformed man pushed him aside and a five man SWAT team poured into the room.

The other teens sat as if frozen, staring at the invaders with wide eyes.

"Stand up, and put your hands above your head," the SWAT leader snapped.

Stunned, the boys slowly obeyed. As the team frisked them, Shawn stammered out, "Please, sir, what have we done wrong?"

The man who had entered first, nodded shortly. "I am Commander Rick Andre. I am searching for a Lance Lasgalen, FBI agent, and his two acquaintances, Daniel and Rowan Rivendell, twins. Don't bother denying that they are here, for we saw them enter."

"What is your warrant for arresting them?" Shawn retorted. "Why are you here instead of the police?"

Andre smiled wickedly. "I have my reasons." He looked over at his men. "Three of you remain here and guard the civilians. The rest of you search the house. Bring any others you find to this room." Legolas watched silently as the team drug in Ashley, and though he did not appreciate her attentions, it made his blood boil to see her roughly treated.

He was surprised at how ineptly the SWAT team was handling the situation. He would have surrounded the house and placed guards outside the windows before making his presence known. However, the reason for their slackness was made clear a moment later.

"I know Lasgalen is probably nearby," Andre said slyly. He drew his pistol and placed the barrel against Shawn's forehead. "If he does not surrender in five minutes, I will shoot him."

Legolas tensed and then sighed wearily. Why did this always happen to him? Carefully, he dug a shallow hole in the flower bed beneath him and buried his personal effects, weapons, and cell phone. Standing, he breathed a quick prayer for Eru's protection and headed for the back door.

Inside, Andre looked down at his watch. "One minute."

"What is Lasgalen doesn't come, sir?" one of the soldiers asked.

"He is here, and he will come," Andre answered.

"You are a very astute man, Andre," Legolas said, with a hint of a smile as he stood leaning against the door frame, hands hanging empty at his sides. "However, such violent measures are unnecessary."

Andre and the SWAT team spun around, surprise on all their faces.

"You want me or not?" Legolas asked.

An instant later, the team recovered from their astonishment at his sudden appearance and grabbed him, pushing him roughly against the wall and handcuffing him. Finishing, they spun him around to face Andre.

"How nice of you to come when asked, Agent Lasgalen," Andre said smoothly. "However, where are your two friends? Are they too fine to accept my humble invitation?"

"They have left," Legolas replied shortly. "I sent them away."

"I see," Andre said with a short nod. He tenderly stroked his silenced pistol. "I cannot have you attempting to escape, Lasgalen." Raising the weapon almost idly, he fired.

Legolas gasped as the bullet sliced its way deeply into his left calf, and he staggered. For a moment, he panted for breath through the pain, feeling the agony wash over him in waves. There was a sharp prick in his upper arm, and he glanced over to a soldier empty a syringe into his arm. Almost immediately, the world swayed.

"Blast you," he snarled at Andre before his eyes closed, and he slumped toward the ground.

Andre smiled.

**Translations: **

_yrch _orc

_ada_ father

_edain _men

_hir nin _my lord

_rhaich _ curses

_tolo hi _come now

_mellyn nin _ my friends

**A/N: **I would appreciate anyone who knows elvish to tell me if my usage of the language is correct, for I know nothing about elvish grammar. _Hannon le._

Well, I hope you all liked it. I would be grateful beyond measure if you would review and tell me what you think. I am open to plot ideas as would love to hear your thoughts. For those of you who love Narnia, I have posted the first chapter of _The Blades of Eru_, a LOTRs/Narnia crossover.

I do not know when I will update, as I am very busy and am (please don't tell my writing teacher) playing with an assortment of other fanfics while trying to get past the newest mental block on the book I am writing.

_Navaer _Ila


	2. The Truth

**Disclaimer: **Everything you recognize from LOTRs is _not _mine. Everything you do _not _recognize from LOTRs is mine.

**Warnings: **None, really. There is some modern interrogation in this chapter, but though it classifies as torture by U.S. laws, it's not _real_ torture. ;-)

**A/N: **I just want to thank my reviewers so much for taking the time to tell me their thoughts! _**trecebo, Lady Wednesday, Lasen, Dark Devotions, kampa, and Jimmy Candlestick, **_your encouragement and pointers greatly aided me. A special _gen hannon _to _**Dark Devotions **_for helping me with some elvish. I treasure all the reviews and appreciate the encouragement more than I can say. To those who are reading and not reviewing, I still appreciate that you are reading the story. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

_**Lasen: **_Since you did not give me your e-mail, I was unable to answer your review, though I agree with what you said and will try to improve. A special thanks to you, also.

_Hannon le_! – Ila

**Chapter Two: The Truth**

Slowly, ever so slowly, consciousness fought its way to supremacy in Legolas' mind, and pain followed quickly, his left leg aching. It took a few moments for him to remember everything that had happened, and he forced his reluctant eyes open. He was strapped to a platform which resembled a bed in a pristine white room. Blinking in the bright light, he moaned softly, unable to hold in the a brief outlet of pain and anger.

"Lance?" a voice whispered.

Legolas slowly turned his head, which protested savagely at the treatment. "Shawn?" he murmured, wondering what in the blazes his friend was doing there.

The young man was bound to a chair on the other side of the room. Beside him, in another chair, slumped Ashley, eyes closed.

Legolas jerked on his bonds in a reflexive but vain attempt to sit, before craning his neck once more toward Shawn and his sister. "Are you alright?"

The human nodded. "They are holding us to make sure the others don't go to the cops." He glanced at his sister. "She's just asleep."

"Do you know where we are?" Legolas asked.

Shawn shook his head. "We were blindfolded."

"How long have we been here?"

Shawn shrugged. "Maybe a half hour, I'm not really sure. It took us awhile to get here." He fidgeted then asked hesitantly, "What's going on, Lance? Why do they want you?"

Legolas sighed and diverted his gaze to the ceiling. "I wish I knew," he admitted, "but I don't."

At that moment, the door hissed open, sliding into the wall as the doors did in Star Wars and Star Trek, and a lone man dressed in a crisp black suit walked confidently in.

"Good day, Agent Lasgalen," he said with a friendly nod. "I am glad to see that you are awake."

"Why are you holding me?" Legolas responded testily. "Who are you?"

The man cocked a mocking eyebrow at him and ignored the second question. "As you doubtlessly know, files containing information on you and your twin companions have been borrowed from the pentagon."

"Stolen, you mean," Legolas interrupted. "Why did you want them?"

The man shrugged carelessly. "Oh, I was merely curious. When I first saw you, I was interested in you, to have such a brilliant career at such a presumably 'young' age. I had you watched for over ten years, carefully detailing your daily habits and companions. I saw much to interest me which heightened when I finally got around to bugging your phone. I heard a quite interesting conversation between you and Jared Martin about some files he supposable had in his possession."

"What did you learn?" Legolas pressed, fear starting to build in his mind.

The man's friendly smile became a sneer. "Not much. Martin enciphered the files well, but we _will _break the codes eventually."

"And Martin?" He dreaded the answer.

"Dead," the man said with sickening satisfaction. "I did learn some things about you, though, from the many phone conversations I overheard."

Legolas winced slightly. "Please take Shawn and Ashley somewhere else. They do not need to know anything. It will only endanger them more."

"True," the man replied with a leer. "But I think, as your friends, they deserve to know that you are 'different,' and that you've been lying all these years to them."

Legolas clamped on the impassive Thranduilion mask before it was too late. "I do not know what you are saying."

"You lie again," the man said casually. "For how many years, have you been calling yourself 'Lance Lasgalen?' Do they not deserve to know your real name? Your darkest secret?"

"Just leave them out of this."

"No," the man replied almost gleefully. He turned to the bewildered looking Shawn and sleepy Ashley. "His true name is Legolas, a rather odd name, don't you think?" He clasped his hands behind his back and sent the FBI agent an evil glance. "The biggest bombshell, however, is the fact that he is genetically, surgically, and perhaps even chemically modified."

"I am not!" Legolas spat, both furious and relieved at his captor's mistake. "You are chasing dreams."

"Shut up!" the man snapped, his head whipping around toward him. "Why, then, did Martin go to such extents to keep the files hidden? Why in the _ten years_ since I started watching you, you have not physically changed the slightest? How can you memorize large amounts of data at a single glance? How come you never sleep? How can you push yourself past all the physical limits of the strongest man? How do you have intuitions, experience, knowledge, etc. that surpasses even the best veteran FBI or CIA agents? Do you deny now that you are different?"

Legolas stared at him for a moment, frantically searching for an answer behind a blank face. "What proof do you have to these claims?" he asked at last. "I will also say nothing until I know who you are, who you work for, and what you want."

"I am FBI agent Norman Kell," the man replied, impatience in his voice. "And if these were criminal accusations being brought against you, I could lock you away for a dozen lifetimes. As for whom I work for…" he trailed off with a grim smile. "There is no need for you to know _that_. As for what my employers want, they are open to any new information I have to sell. You are a most engaging piece of information which they shall be quite interested in."

Legolas blinked, the truth hitting him like a slap in the face. "Traitor!" he hissed, jerking uselessly at his bonds. "Which country are you selling the U.S.' secrets to?"

Kell laughed. "Do you actually think I'd be naïve enough to tell you? I'm not one of those movie bad guys, who go and blurt out the whole dastardly deed once the good guy is in their grasp." He leaned forward and all the amusement left his face. "I never underestimate people, Lasgalen, and you least of all. Just know that if you try to escape, the girl and her brother will be the first to die."

"I understand clearly," Legolas answered coldly.

Kell sighed contentedly. "Good. It's always such a bother to dispose of bodies." Once more, his face became abruptly threatening. "I'll be back soon, Lasgalen, and I want answers. Think hard on it. If you answer willingly, everything will be fine, but if you resist…" he smiled chillingly. "I'll force the answers from you." Turning suddenly, he left the room.

Legolas stared at the closed doors, his thoughts in turmoil. After so many years, someone was trying his utmost to discover the secret of the elves. And he was on the road to success.

"Lance?"

He turned his head back toward his friends, fighting to keep the anger and despair from his face. "Yes, Ashley?"

The girl twisted slightly in her bonds, wincing as the steel dug into her wrists. "What's going to happen to us?"

"I do not think you will be harmed," he said hesitantly, unsure of any of Kell's moods. "I will not attempt to escape unless I can take you both with me." He gave the metal strap binding his right wrist a half-hearted jerk. "Not like I could go anywhere anyway."

"Is what Kell said true about you?" Shawn asked unexpectedly.

Legolas opened and shut his mouth, unable to find another lie. "I am not _enhanced_ in any way," he answered truthfully. "I think he has watched too many Sci-Fi movies." He grinned suddenly. "Or else he has played Halo one to many times." He wrinkled his forehead thoughtfully. "I don't believe that I look like Master Chief, but since you never see the face beneath the helmet, you can never know."

Shawn and Ashley laughed, and Legolas felt his heart lighten at the sound. He would never betray 'Dan, 'Ro, or the secret to this maniac, no matter what said maniac did to him. However, a small part of his mind warned him that resisting was easier said than done.

Especially with truth serum.

He shivered slightly at the thought. He had used it a prisoner once himself, though he had done so in secret, because technically, it classified as a form of torture. He had excused himself for the breach of law because a number of lives had been hanging in the balance, and time had been of essence. However, he had seen fully what it could accomplish and would never forget the listlessness and helplessness in the eyes of those he had interrogated as their mouths spoke against their will. With a deep sigh, he closed his eyes, his mind flying through different escape scenarios. He knew none of them would work, but he could not help but dream, for it stopped him from despairing.

He wondered where Elladan and Elrohir were and bitterly regretted his instructions to them about finding Jared. If his contact was indeed dead, as Kell had said, the twins could be walking into a trap. Knowing them and their luck, they would be, too.

_Jared. _His heart ached at the thought of his friend and confident, as his mind slowly wrapped itself around the idea that he was dead. Jared had discovered Legolas' secret when the young human was fourteen years old, his young, merry heart filling some of the empty void in the elf's spirit. It seemed so long ago, now, when he had first laid eyes on the trusting young boy….

(Flashback)

_Legolas moaned softly and leaned back against a tree as pain racked his lithe frame and blood stained through his shirt. His pain glazed eyes searched the surroundings for any sign of habitation, but he saw nothing but shifting shadows and colorless shapes._

_He slid down into a sitting position, unable to continue any longer, for each step sent fresh waves of dizziness and agony shooting through him. His mind spun with disorientation, and he dimly knew it was the right choice to remain where he was. He could have been wandering in circles since he had regained consciousness an hour ago, for all he knew. He frowned at the thought. An hour? Surely, it had been longer then that. Or was it shorter? Could he have regained consciousness just a half hour before? _

_With an audible sigh that was more like a sob of pain, he released the thought, not wanting to waste his mental energy on something so trivial. Looking down, he squinted at the dark liquid soaking his navy uniform and pushed aside the tattered fabric with a trembling hand. The two small holes in his chest showed no signs of slowing the blood flow, and he cursed himself again for his carelessness. _

_The ways of an elven warrior and a police officer were just too different. In Middle-Earth, rushing to the rescue of a terrified young woman would have not gotten him two bullets in the chest. Of course, he thought idly, back then, they had not invented projectiles yet. Nevertheless, when the car he had been following pulled abruptly to the side of the road, and two men had jumped out and ran into the woods, pulling a screaming and fighting girl between them, he had not hesitated, but stopped also and pursued them. _

_He had not known until too late that the whole thing had been an act to lure him into the woods. The men and girl ambushed him and left him for dead after shooting him twice, confident that they had killed the annoying agent who was about to bust their drug network. _

_He had been careless and hasty, which was why he was leaning on a tree, fighting to hold on to what life was left in him. His sight wavered, and he blinked rapidly, trying to clear it. He would not die, he _could _not die. He had survived so much – how could two little .22 bullets take him down? Life, he decided dreamily, was not fair. _

_It was then that he heard the sound of a bike clattering against the ground and rapid footsteps coming in his direction, followed shortly after by a tremulous voice. "Sir, sir? Are you awake?"_

_Legolas realized with a start that his eyes were closed, and he fought to open them. However, his brain had other ideas, and he remained still, naught moving but his chest as he drew in shallow, ragged breaths. _

"_Oh, blast, this is bad," the young, boyish voice said from above him, shaking slightly. Gentle hands shifted his shirt. "You don't look too good, sir." _

"_No," Legolas managed to rasp out, surprising even himself. "I don't suppose I do." He forced his eyes open and found himself gazing into a pair of bright blue eyes which almost rivaled his own with their brilliance. _

_And in that moment, a friendship was born._

(End Flashback)

Legolas could not help but smile at the memory. With the help of the twins, who had luckily been in the area at that time, he had fully recovered from the little incident. Jared had helped to fill some of the empty space _Estel's_ death had left, and soon the elf and boy became best friends. After a time, when Jared was sixteen, the boy had confronted Legolas with the differences he had seen in the elf, and Legolas, tired of hiding behind lies and deceptions, had told him his true identity and heritage. To his surprise, Jared believed him and swore to keep the knowledge of the elves a secret. When the boy became a man, he joined the FBI and rose rapidly through the ranks until he held the one of the most important positions. He forever remained true to his promise, forging documents and ducked under red tape to turn police officer Lei Wood into FBI agent Lance Lasgalen. He also aided the twins with jobs and passports, effectively becoming the elves' government plant.

And now he was dead.

Legolas drew a shuddering breath, blinking back the tears which threatened to fall. He would not show any emotion when Kell could be watching on any countless security cams. He almost wished that the agent would return and they could get the interrogation over with.

He glanced at Shawn and Ashley, who were speaking quietly together, and his heart raged against the injustice done to them. Why did Kell have to involve them in this? Did the rogue agent enjoy seeing his prisoner's discomfort as his deepest secrets were revealed to his friends? He wondered if he had done anything to earn Kell's enmity, or if the traitor was just interested in the money he could make from the information he gleaned.

He was jerked from his thoughts as the doors hissed open, and Kell reentered along with Andre and one guard. All three carried side arms, and Legolas' gaze wandered between them before coming to rest on Kell. Andre set a small black case down a table in the corner of the room, as Kell turned to Legolas.

"I hope you have been considering what I have told you, Lasgalen."

Legolas' eyes shone with anger and scorn. "To tell you the truth, I have not wasted any of my time thinking on it."

Kell's face flushed and he compressed his lips into a thin line. "Didn't you understand what I said? I will not be gentle if you do not tell me what I need to know."

Legolas cocked an eyebrow at him. "Correction," he said sarcastically. "You do not _need _to know anything, you just want to. And yes, I understood perfectly what you told me, so I apologize profusely for not acting terrified."

"Do you want to make me lose my temper, Lasgalen?" Kell ground out, his hand resting on the handgrip of his pistol. "This bravado will get you nowhere."

"Actually," Legolas retorted, inwardly wondering why he was being so stupid, "I think it would quite entertaining to watch you fly off the hook. And I have not idea what you mean by bravado."

"Fool!" Kell snarled and, spinning on his heel, grabbed the black case and opened it with exaggerated care. "Look at the _Truth_, Lasgalen."

With a dramatic flare, he opened the case to reveal two rows of six needles each glistening menacingly in the artificial light. Each was a standard medical needle holding three ccs each of the truth serum, a colorless, odorless, liquid made from a number of chemicals with ethanol as a main ingredient.

Legolas forced down a brief internal flash of panic and glanced up at Kell. "You're going to pump all of that in me?"

Kell's smile was anything but pleasant. "Yes, if that is necessary."

Legolas frowned at him. "I know you want to question me, but I didn't think that killing me was high on your list of objectives. Just a half a cc of that stuff will make a person sick. Thirty six ccs will kill a man twenty times over. Didn't you learn this sort of info in school?"

"I'll be cautious," Kell replied shortly. He stepped to the side and motioned Andre forward. "Unbind his left wrist."

The soldier stepped up to the table and slid a thin plastic chip into the manacle holding Legolas' wrist to the table. The steel band opened, leaving his arm free for a fraction of a second before Andre's hand would clamp down on his wrist.

Throwing caution to the wind, Legolas threw his hand out and slipped Andre's Glock pistol from its holster. In the same movement, he smashed the handgrip into the side of the man's head, dropping him on the spot, and brought the barrel up to point at Kell. Though he had moved quickly, the other soldier drew his pistol and aimed it past Legolas at Shawn, and for a moment, there was complete silence.

"Well, Lasgalen," Kell finally said, a ghost of a smile chasing its way across his face, "your loyalties are tested. I know you have something to hide – this action proves it – so which would you rather lose? Two friends or information? If you shoot me, you may escape, but my guard will shoot the girl and boy. While, if you put this pistol down, you will lose information, but the lives of your friends will be spared."

"What information I have is not my own," Legolas replied, feeling his heart tearing with indecision knowing that he could not let this man learn any info on the twins. Two lives for two. Ashley and Shawn for Elladan and Elrohir. His finger tightened on the trigger, but he felt unable to pull it, unable to allow Ashley and Shawn die for his choice. Why was this happening? It wasn't fair. Could he stand the Truth Serum? Was it possible that some of the rumors were true? Was the drug all mental? Would it only work on him if he believed it would? The questions screamed through his mind but left no answers behind. However, one thing he knew. Elladan and Elrohir would never forgive him if he let two innocents die for their sake.

The pistol wavered when, suddenly, he cried out in pain and surprise as a hand shot up from the floor and twisted his arm viciously, forcing him to drop the weapon. The grip on his arm did not release but twisted further, driving a gasp from his lips.

"Enough!" Kell snapped, and Andre sullenly released the elf's arm and picked up his pistol before standing shakily, a long, bloodied bruise stretching down his temple.

"Go and put some ice on that, Andre," Kell ordered impatiently. "Perhaps this will teach you to be more careful in the future when dealing with unruly prisoners."

Glowering at Legolas, who met his gaze coolly, Andre took a step forward only to stagger and grab the wall as a wave of dizziness assaulted him. As soon as his balance returned, he shuffled awkwardly from the room, his flushed with humiliation and anger.

Legolas watched him go before throwing a quick glance at Shawn. The young man looked shaken, and his face was pale, but he held himself erectly, glaring at Kell through narrowed eyes. Ashley sat silently, tears seeping from under her closed lashes and streaming down her cheeks.

Kell removed his pistol and set it on the table before stepping up to the platform, the other guard not wavering as he continued to aim his weapon at Shawn. Gently, the rogue agent lifted a syringe from the box and gingery took Legolas' wrist. When his prisoner did nothing but glare at him, he pricked the main vein and emptied half the syringe.

Immediately, Legolas felt his world haze over, and as he fought to remain conscious, Kell emptied the rest of the syringe into his blood. Clearly this man and 'cautious,' did not work well together. Panic began to claw at the elf as all light was slowly siphoned away, and he began to weakly struggle. However, Kell's grip was strong, and he felt strangely weakened. There was no dizziness, no disorientation, no pain; his eyes just slowly darkened until he fell into a shadowed realm that felt exactly like sleep.

Kell chuckled softly at the dazed, unseeing look in his prisoner's eyes, and asked the first question. The reply was mumbled and less than articulate, and the man frowned as he grabbed another syringe and emptied it. This promised to be a lengthy process.

o-0-o-0-o

**A/N: **Hi, everybody! Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chappie we'll visit the twins, and see what scrap they've got themselves into now. I'm sorry this is not as long as the first, but I've been sick and writing has been difficult. I have a headache to rival Legolas'. Anyway, I hope to post again next Friday (in a week from today). Remember, I treasure your reviews!

_Navaer_ – Ila


	3. Forced Answers

**Disclaimer: **Do I really need to keep repeating myself?? Just see the first chapter.

**Warnings: **None

**A/N: **Thanks to all the people who reviewed! _**szepilona10, Lady Wednesday, trecebo, Kanpa, Jimmy Candlestick, Peregrin Ionad, and Dark Devotions. **_You guys made my week! Well, here is the next chapter, where we get a glimpse of the twins, and both Legolas and Kell get answers. I hope you all enjoy and will throw me a review!

_Hannon le _– Ila

**Chapter Three: Forced Answers **

Elladan scowled as he slowly crumpled the coke can in his fist, ignoring the screeching and popping of the aluminum. _Why_, oh why, had he listened to Legolas? That wood elf always thought he could run off and save the world leaving them sitting in some abandoned church parking lot late at night. He could be wounded, captured, dead, or dying, and they would never know until too late. He gave the unfortunate can an extra hard squeeze at which it protested loudly.

Elrohir winced at the noise and sent his brother an annoyed look. "'Dan, please. I know you're worried, but is destroying hapless objects going to somehow relieve you of anxiety?" He moved from where he had been leaning on the church's locked doors and sat down on the steps beside his fidgeting brother.

Elladan absently tossed the can into the bushes. "I feel like an utter coward, leaving him there alone. We could have done something! It's not as if we're helpless when we don't have a gun in our hands. Perhaps, we were even just overreacting. Shawn's parents could have been home early from their shopping or something."

"And ring the door bell?" Elrohir retorted, but his voice held no exasperation, just weary realization. "'Dan, he's not coming, and we can't just sit here all night. We've already been here what," he glance at his digital watch and illuminated its face, "three hours? If everything was all fine and merry, he would have gotten us immediately rather then let us sit out here wondering what the blazes is going on."

"Unless it's a sick Silven idea of a joke," Elladan muttered darkly, his keen eyes fixed on the dark road a hundred meters away as if expecting Legolas to walk or drive up at any moment.

"What?" Elrohir exclaimed dryly. "The pessimist joking?" The younger twin's face grew grim and he sighed. "He's been so uptight and business-like lately since he's gotten into the habit of taking on all these serious jobs that he seems to adore, and it makes him seem more like _adar_ or King Thranduil. He is weighed down by the cares of the world."

Elladan nodded briefly, pondering the truth of his brother's words. They were without a doubt true, for soon after Legolas had became a police officer thirty years ago, they began to notice his heavy heart and exhausting state of constant alertness. Clearly, jobs involving shooting and getting shot added a tough edge to the normally buoyant elf, and it concerned the twins more than they let on.

"Because of our elven immortality, he does not change like the men do," the elder twin mused aloud. "Thus, he attempts to find some way to help _others _change because he is unable to. He is also a warrior, making the police or FBI the most optimum targets for a career. What he doesn't understand is that this world won't get better, no matter how hard he strives to make it do so. It's declining rapidly while saying it's improving. Already, morals have crumbled into dust and people do in public what was, in our time, disgraceful to do in secret or even mention. The rule of Men have failed, the world failed, and the hearts of men have turned to dust; he must learn to understand this. Staying here will not return _Estel _or Gimli to him." A sad smile drifted over his face. "I always told that stupid wood elf he should have become a gardener."

Elrohir snorted. "I'm sorry, but I cannot see Legolas on his hands and knee in dirt talking to flowers. That is simply not him anymore."

"And that is what is sad," Elladan countered softly. "I take back what I said before. He _has _changed, but not for the better. This world has given him a hardness which shall not be lost on anyone once we return to Valinor." He managed a weak grin. "Thranduil will be after our blood, wondering what happened to his son.

Elrohir just sighed, louder this time. Slapping the concrete step beside him, he stood, pulling out his cell phone. "I know if he's in trouble, he probably ditched his cell, but I'll try anyway."

Elladan stood also and plodded heavily down the stairs. "Do it as we walk. We'll head back to Shawn's."

Nodding, Elrohir flicked open his phone and began to dial. Elladan listened intently to the faint ringing sound emitting from the phone's speaker, hoping against hope to hear his friend's familiar voice. Nothing but the voice mail greeted his ears, and he gestured at Elrohir to end the call. "It's best to not leave a message; we don't know where his phone is at the moment."

Elrohir nodded and snapped his phone shut, secreting it away in a pocket. "Once we find him, I will kill him," he pronounced solemnly.

Elladan gave a wry grin. "I'll help, but we have to find him first. Shall we try Shawn's first or try to hitch a ride to Legolas'?"

Elrohir grabbed his phone once more. "I'll call Shawn's. I got his number before Legolas kicked us out. Maybe someone's still there." His fingers flew over the numbers, and Elladan reached over and jabbed the speaker phone button.

After a few rings, someone picked up. "Hello?" a trembling voice answered.

Elrohir's mind worked quickly to match the voice to one of the young men at the gamer party. Dean. Yeah, Dean, that was it. " Dean, this is Rowan. Where's Shawn? Where's Lance? What's happened?"

"Why should you care?" the reply was bitter. "You ran out on us."

"We did not run out on you," Elladan answered tightly. "Lance dragged us out and told us to hit the road. We didn't know why but knew he had a good reason. Now, tell me what happened!"

"They-they took Shawn and Ashley. Said they'd if we called the cops."

"Where's Lance?"

"They took him, too. He was gone, but they said they'd shoot Shawn if he didn't come back, and so he came back. Then, they shot Lance."

Horror constricted Elladan's throat, and Elrohir stared at the phone, eyes wide and immoveable. "What?" the elder twin whispered. "Tell me you're joking."

"They just shot him in the leg," Dean corrected himself hastily. "But right after that, they jabbed him with a needle, and he passed out. Listen," the young man's voice became desperate. "Do not come here, 'cause I'm sure they're watching the house. They said we couldn't leave until three and a half hours had passed. I don't know why. Maybe because they wanted a clean escape in case one of us decided to squeal to the cops. They want you, too, and I advise you to hide. They were dressed like a SWAT team, but I'm sure they're not working for the government."

"Thanks, Dean," Elrohir said. His eyes and face were dark, but he kept his voice even. "Just clean the blood stains off the carpet and pretend nothing's happened. My brother and I will look into things. Give me your phone number, and we'll call you once a day to let you know that we haven't been caught. If a single day goes by with out us calling, dial the cops and tell them everything, do you understand? Everything."

"Yes," Dean said shakily. He hurriedly gave them his number and hung up, leaving the brothers in silence once more.

Elrohir turned his shining grey eyes on his twin, fear and concern lurking with the anger there. "What do we do now, 'Dan? We have no idea where to start looking."

"We'll go back to Legolas' and get our weapons and car," Elladan answered after a moment's thought. "And then, we will…"

"…look for Jared." Elrohir finished his brother's sentence, nodding his agreement. "If he is still alive, he just might know what's going on."

Exchanging grim smiles, the two lengthened their stride and disappeared into the blackness of the night, alone on the quiet road except for the company of the stars. _Ithil_ smiled down upon them, and the crickets sang a song of peace, reminding them to hope, for not all was lost.

o-0-o-0-o

Legolas awoke from his dreamless sleep with a headache that promised to be a killer. His eyes focused only to have him slam them shut as light flooded in, blinding him. He remembered nothing after Kell's injections had sent him into a state of 'sleep,' and it disconcerted him more than he would ever admit. Carefully, he cracked his eyes open and let his eyes adjust to the strange brightness. Images swayed, separated, and melded together, giving him the feeling as if the ceiling was down, not up. He clenched his jaw as his stomach seemed to twist inside of him and blinked rapidly, his patience wearing thin at this unusual dizziness, disorientation, and sensitivity to light. At last, he managed to focus, and fixed his eyes on Shawn, who was staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Did I talk?" he asked tentatively, dreading to hear the answer and his friend's reaction if what he feared was true.

For a long moment, Shawn said nothing, his grey eyes serious, and Legolas shifted uneasily under the scrutiny. At last, the young man shrugged. "You talked some, but I didn't hear much."

With a soft groan, Legolas closed his eyes, struggling to contain his emotions. Panic probed his defenses, seeking for an escape, but he pushed it aside, unwilling to show his feelings before his friends. The dark space in his memory that was occupied by the interrogation taunted him, and though he fought hard to redeem anything from that time, it remained unreachable. Nameless fears assailed him: What had he said about the elves, Valinor, himself, and most importantly, the twins? He would gladly give his life to protect the identity of his best friends, but this truth serum pulled information from him in a way he could not fight, and it drove him into a desperate fury.

"_So qualin quelet_," he spat softly. "_Úmea firima rauco_." He twisted his right wrist absently in its bindings as he continued to curse Kell repeatedly in the High Tongue, venting the fury at his helplessness.

"Why?" Ashley's tearful voice interrupted him mid rant. "Why didn't you tell us you weren't human? We were your friends for over five years and you lied to us the whole time."

"Ashley," Shawn reproved quietly. "He did what he thought to be right."

"And much good it did me," Legolas replied bitterly, turning his dark eyes to them. "How can I keep the secrets of my people when my mind is vilely invaded?" He abruptly snapped his mouth shut, eyes flaming. "I will not speak on this. Tell me what you overheard."

Shawn shifted nervously, unused to seeing such raw emotion from his normally well controlled friend. "He asked you your name first, and you said Legolas Thranduelyown, or something like that."

"Thranduilion," Legolas corrected automatically, his whole frame tense. "Then what?"

"He asked you if you were enhanced, and you said no. He then asked if you were human, and you said no to that too. He asked you what you were, but you refused to answer. He injected you with some more of the truth serum and repeated the question. You said you were one of the Firstborn, an Eldar, commonly known as an elf. I didn't hear much after that, because your pulse started racing and something else, and they had to stabilize you. Kell kept asking you questions, however, but you mumbled the answers, and I couldn't catch anything. After he finished, you feel unconscious and were out for six hours." Shawn finished his narrative, watching his friend carefully.

Legolas stared up at the ceiling, his numbed mind slowly digesting the information. Frustration clawed at him, threatening to drown him under its dark shroud. What _had _he told Kell? He balled his hands into tight fists and calmly and silently rehearsed the different ways he would an. There had been few times in his life when he had felt such hate for a man, and Kell deserved every drop of it.

Finally, he drug himself from his gloomy thoughts and looked back at Shawn. "Are you sure that was all you heard? Did you hear anything more? Even just one word?"

Shawn pursed his lips, and his forehead creased in thought. "Uh, yeah. There was one word you kept repeating. I wasn't sure if it was a name, or a word from that language you speak, but –"

The door hissed open, interrupting him, and Kell strode, his face holding a crooked smirk. "Well, well! Finally awake, are we? I was getting impatient, Lasgalen, or shall I call you Legolas?"

"Lance Lasgalen is fine by me, _mórea-inno tapetolde_," Legolas bit out, filling his tone with scorn and loathing. "What did I say while under the influence of your _vára _drug?"

Kell's smirk widened into a malicious smile, as he stopped beside the platform. "Everything. Every little minuscule detail down to the pointed ears." He reached down and touched the tapered tip before Legolas jerked his head away. "I have to admit you hid them quite well."

"You lie!" the elf hissed. "Prove that I told you everything. Tell me the name of my first home."

Kell shrugged. "_Eryn Lasgalen_. That one was easy, and it was quite inventive for a last name, by the way."

Frantically, Legolas searched his mind for a question that would give nothing away it the man did not know the answer. "Who was my best friend?"

Kell looked taken back. "I did not ask that. Why would I care about such a useless detail?"

"It proves you do not know everything," Legolas retorted, knowing the shallowness of his statement, but not really caring.

Kell laughed. "I don't care about your personal life, Lasgalen," he said, amused. "I found much deeper interest in the fact that you do not age or die. How old are you, Lasgalen?"

Legolas glowered at him silently, refusing to answer though, in truth, he did not know. He had been in his third millennium when he had left Middle-Earth and time had no meaning in Valinor. He had no idea how many _yeni _he had lived there before returning to find the world completely changed.

Kell shook his head. "Useless bravado once more. I'm afraid it will take you sometime to learn that such an attitude is foolish. I asked you about your age that last night, and you told me you did not know how old you are. Is that true?"

"I will say nothing, _utinu en lokirim_," Legolas snapped. "You may sit and speculate to your hearts content."

In a quick, fluid movement, Kell pulled his pistol and fired a shot at Shawn. The boy jerked in his seat, and his head whipped to the side as if he had been slapped. His face went extremely pale, and a thin trail of blood trailed down the side of his face. Slowly, he turned his head and glanced behind him to see a clean hole in the wall almost directly behind him.

Kell smiled harshly and replaced the pistol in his holster. "Enough games, Lasgalen. If you do not answer any questions I ask of you, Harson will die."

Legolas glared up at him, his eyes cold orbs of blue ice. "You need Shawn; you can't kill him. He's the ticket to keep his friends' silence and my remaining here. If you kill him and his sister, I'll escape."

"Even if his friends' do tell the police what happened, there is no way to find for them to find us," Kell counted. "And I, for one, am confident that you shall not find a way out of your bonds. Of course, if you should persist in any attempts to loosen them, I can activate the electric so that every time you exert a certain amount of pressure on them, it will give you a nice little zap."

"Unless you wish to kill me," Legolas returned, "you cannot leave me lying here forever."

Kell pondered that for a moment. "Yes, of course. I will give you that opportunity now, to let your brain clear completely of the drug. There's two rooms through that door," he gestured at a door that almost melded perfectly into the wall. "You'll find restrooms and food there." Drawing his pistol, he stepped over to Shawn's chair and touched button on the side. The restraints opened, and Shawn's hands immediately flew up to his head and gingerly felt the shallow, bloodied grove.

"Come, boy," Kell ordered roughly, yanking him out of the chair and propelling him across the room. "We'll get that cut bound up while your sister and friend are getting some exercise." He threw a glance at Legolas as he pushed Shawn out of the room. "If you or the girl try to escape, I'll shoot him."

"Yeah, yeah," Legolas mumbled as the door closed, inwardly suspicious at Kell's immediate agreement to let him free of his bonds.

A few minutes later, his and Ashley's bonds automatically released. Ashley stood immediately, stretching her cramped muscles and began wandering about the small room. She did not seem to fully trust him anymore and kept a wary eye on him until she vanished through the other door.

Legolas remained still for a moment before slowly pushing himself into a sitting position and swinging his good leg off the platform. His head swam and pounded until he was sure it would explode, and his stomach felt nauseous. But at length, the dizzy spell passed, and he leaned over to inspect the bullet wound in his leg. The projectile had been removed and the resulting hole had been carefully bound with clean bandages. Glad that they had _someone_ on the facility who knew some first aid, he lowered himself to the floor and stood gingerly. Putting first things first, he limped around the walls of the room, searching for the security cameras he knew were there. He found four of the bead size devices, one in each corner or the room, and promptly yanked them from the walls.

Satisfied for the moment, he clasped the small cameras in his hand and stepped over to the door that Kell had indicated. It slid open for him, disappearing into the wall, and he marveled at the technology that had clearly gone into this building. He ran through his mind every place that would have technology like this, and none matched up. Frowning thoughtfully, he stepped through the door into a second well lit room with a single table and three chairs. Two flexible plastic plates held what seemed like MacDonald's hamburgers with matching cups and no silverware. Ashley had claimed one of the plates and was listlessly eating a hamburger, her eyes staring unseeingly at the wall beyond her.

Turning himself forcibly away from the tempting food and drink, Legolas began to systematically locate and remove the cameras from this room also. They were in the same positions as the other room, and he could help but wonder at Kell's apparent naivety. Or was it naivety? Was Kell planning something? Shrugging silently, he pulled out the first camera.

Ashley seemed startled out her gloom by his movements and watched him curiously for a moment. "What are you doing?"

"Removing the cameras," he replied patiently, dropping the small bead into his pocket of his jeans and heading for the next corner. "He's planting them in all the rooms."

"Why are you bothering?" she asked. "We can't try to get away 'cause he's got Shawn."

"I'll figure something out," he said, but knew with a sinking feeling he would soon have to choose between the lives of Ashley and Shawn and the twins. And though he knew his choice, it did not make it any easier. He felt her dark eyes following his every move until he finished the last camera and advanced to the restroom to repeat the process and knew that she also understood.

After removing the cameras there, he dropped the whole collection in the toilet and flushed it. He knew without a doubt that Kell knew what he had done, and it slightly bothered him that the man had not come storming in angrily. Deciding to avoid thinking about what tricks Kell could be playing on him, he headed back out to grab his hamburger and more importantly, the water, when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His tee shirt and jeans were rumpled and wrinkled, and there were blood stains and tears on the left leg of his jeans around the bullet wound. His hair was tousled and uncombed, and it stood up on end as if he had gelled it. He laughed weakly at his disheveled appearance and, wetting his finger in the sink, attempted to smooth his unruly locks. After limited success, he wandered out and sat down across from Ashley, who promptly ignored him.

Inwardly rolling his eyes at the caprices of females, he turned his attention to the hamburger, eyeing it with distaste. He normally avoided MacDonald's as a cat avoided water, because he could not stand the food, but he ate the sandwich anyway, telling himself he needed something in his stomach.

Sighing heavily, he leaned back in his chair, sipping the small cup of water slowly and letting himself relax. He let his gaze wander around the brightly lit room, noticing the total lack of lethal objects. He had clearly been searched carefully immediately after his capture, for the small knife he stowed away in sneakers was gone as was his belt and a penknife he carried. He fingered the plate but knew it would never work as a weapon.

He stepped back into the restroom to check the mirror, but it had a layer of bullet proof glass over it. Frustrated, he slid back into his chair and finished his water. He glanced up at the lights, which were flush with the ceiling, and suspected sourly that they were probably bullet proof also.

He fidgeted for a few moments before turning to Ashley. "Do you have a belt? A barrette? Jewelry? Anything sharp?"

She shook her head wordlessly, her dark hair held back from her pale face by one of those long fabric headbands that seemed to be so in fashion lately. "They took everything from me, even my rings."

Standing, Legolas jostled the chair, but though it moved, he could not lift it as it was magnetically attached to the floor. Falling back into the chair and uttering a few weak dwarvish curses, he leaned his elbows on the table and massaged his forehead with his hands. "They must have missed something!" he muttered. "There is no person who is continuously consistent, no room that is totally inescapable, and no situation undefeatable."

Ashley sighed. "Listen, Lance…" she trailed off and looked at him. "Do you still want me to call you that?"

Legolas nodded without looking up at her. "I thought I made that clear to Kell."

"Whatever," she said irritably. "I just want to say that I'm not in favor of any wild, reckless attempt to escape. I worried about Shawn and don't understand why you're still attempting to escape while they're holding him hostage to prevent us from doing that very thing. It's stupid, idiotic, and it makes me think that you don't even care if they shoot my brother."

Legolas exhaled wearily. "You have me all wrong, Ashley. I want, no, _need_ to get out of here, but I do not want you or Shawn injured in any way. However, if I do manage to dream up a way to get out of here, it will hold risks. There is no way around that."

Ashley scowled at him and fell back into a moody silence.

Legolas let his gaze drift around the room once more and found his eyes kept returning to a single object. Suddenly, it struck him. "Ashley, can you give me your headband?"

"Yeah, what for?" she asked rather sullenly as she untangled it from her hair and pushed the black, silk fabric across the table towards him.

He fingered it for a moment, before a grim smile found its way onto his features. "I think I have an idea."

o-0-o-0-o

**Translations: **

_(S) adar_ – father

_(S) Ithil _– the moon

_(Q) So qualin quelet – _He[s [a dead corpse

_(Q) Úmea firima rauco – _Evil mortal demon

_(Q) mórea-inno tapetolde_ – Black-heart[ed blockhead

_(Q) vára – _dirty

_(S) Eryn Lasgalen – _Wood of Greenleaves, the name of Mirkwood after its cleansing.

_(Q) yeni – _plural of a _yen_; an elvish equivalent of 144 years.

_(Q) utinu en lokirim – _son of snakes

**A/N: **Hummm…. Legolas got a hair ribbon and an idea, Kell's got something up his sleeve, Shawn's held hostage, Ashley's in a bad mood, and the twins are looking for the help of a dead guy. I wonder where this is going to end up. ;-) Well, I'm still sick with influenza and bronchitis (I even got my flu shot!) and showing very few signs of improvement even though my doctor's pumped me up on steroids. Not to mention, my asthma's flared up, and I feel like I'm breathing with half a lung. -pouts- _Ai!_ I hate being sick!

Okay. -calms herself- I'm done with my rant now. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'm sorry there wasn't any action in this chapter, but that's on the way. -grins in anticipation- As for the Quenya, -grimaces- I know the grammar is incorrect, but I don't know how to fix it. I welcome help from all those who know anything of the High Tongue. Again, I'd love to hear from all of you! _Hannon le_!

Hugs – Ila


	4. The Price of Failure

**Disclaimer: **See first chapter

**Warnings: **Severe character angst and character death. Hehe… not _really_.

**A/N: **A special thanks to everyone who reviewed! _**szepilona10, trecebo, Kanpa, Jimmy Candlestick, Ne'ith5, Peregrin Ionad, Dark Whispers,**_ _**Dark Devotions**_ and _**Calenlass Greenleaf1**_. Thank you all so much! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I also hope -clears throat- that you all enjoy this chapter. Ila

**Chapter Four: The Price of Failure**

"Stop here, please," Elladan requested, glancing over at the friendly trucker who had picked them up a few miles back. "Our friend's house is just ahead, and we can walk the rest of the way."

The trucker nodded and coaxed his big rig to a stop, and Elladan winced as the brakes squealed loudly. Clouds were blowing in from the west and covering _Ithil _under a shadowy veil, prophesying a dark and raining nigh. The trees stood as silent guardians along the road, their branches swaying in a complicated dance in the wind. The truck idled along the side of the road, emergency blinkers sending an eerie yellow light out into the quiet forest.

The rough trucker, who had introduced himself as Mark Jeregin, had about three days worth of gristle on his chin, and a series of scars stretched across his left cheek, causing him to look rather intimidating. Elladan guessed that he probably weighted about two-hundred pounds and most of it was muscle which bulged out from his skin and left lines where his tee-shirt sleeves met his arms. However, at the moment, his gruff eyes were confused and confused, interesting emotions to see on that face, the elder twin thought with a small inward grin.

"Are you sure you want me to drop you here?" Mark asked, sending the sky a glance. "It'll be raining soon."

"We'll be home before it starts," Elrohir reassured the man. "Thank you so much for your help." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a fifty dollar bill, holding it out to the startled trucker. "Take this as a small recompense for your trouble."

The man eyed the money warily, but he reached out and took it, forcing a grin back onto his face. "Thanks lots. And this was no trouble, really." Flicking his finger down, he unlocked the doors. "Hurry home and stay outta trouble."

Elladan worked a reluctant smile onto his features. "We'll try. Thanks and goodbye!" Pulling up on the handle, he climbed down from the vehicle with Elrohir right behind him. Crossing the road in front of the truck, he squinted into the bright lights and threw Mark's silhouette a jovial wave. Moments later, he vanished into the trees and paused to watch the truck pull away.

"We know that the enemy is watching the house, for they'd be worse than stupid not to be if they're searching for us," Elrohir said, pulling him back to the present. "Just how are we going to avoid them long enough to get to our car?"

Elladan reached into his shirt and pulled out a switch-blade. "We won't. And I wouldn't mind getting into the house and grabbing Legolas' knives and see what he got hidden in that basement of his."

"That is unnecessary," Elrohir protested, drawing his own switch-blade with obvious disinclination. "We just need the car and our pistols."

"Really," Elladan said dryly. "Listen, 'Ro, these guys are clearly well trained, and we won't stand a chance with two dinky Glocks. They have their lovely SIGs and MIGs, and probably an assortment of Uzis. Come on, _muindor -nin_," he added with a tight grin. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Elrohir seemed to be considering something, and from the sudden gleam in his eyes, Elladan knew it was not entirely pleasant. "If we manage to take who ever is waiting for us by surprise, we could just disable one of them instead of kill," the younger twin said slowly. "Then we could wring info out of him and not even have to search for Jared who is probably dead anyway."

Elladan turned that idea over in his mind, not liking it very much. "These men are well organized, so I'd doubt they'd spread around the location of a valuable prisoner or even know about it in the first place," he pointed out.

"But," Elrohir argued, "they might know where their boss is, and where the boss is, I'm sure Legolas is."

Grudgingly, Elladan nodded. "It will probably take quite a bit of persuasion and pain to get anything out of them, however. Even then, they could lie." He disliked the idea of purposely inflicting pain on any creature, and the though of tormenting an _adan _for information, no matter how vital, went against his grain.

"I'll take care of it," Elrohir said darkly. "The moment those _celva _lifted a finger toward Legolas, this became personal." He gave a crooked smirk. "Not that it _isn't _personal, for they want us, too, but that's entirely beyond the point."

Elladan rolled his eyes at his brother's reasoning. "Whatever. Now lets get down find those guards." Stepping over to the nearest tree, he leaped for the nearest branch and set off toward the house.

o-0-o-0-o

Legolas sat at the table twisting the silk headband through his fingers and eyeing the doorway with distrustful eyes. He knew that it might open at any moment to admit a soldier/thug/mercenary or whomever Kell was using at the moment, and he did not wish for that to happen until he got Ashley to understand every particular of his plan. Unfortunately for him, she didn't seem to want to understand.

"Are you mad?!" she exploded as he finished outlining his idea. "This is so totally suicide! If you want to die so badly, just take my blasted headband and strangle yourself!" She groaned and slumped back into her chair. "Are you completely insane?"

"Well, there are some who would answer yes to both the first and last questions," Legolas said, but his smile did not reach his eyes. "However, we need to get out of here, and as I am a good shot, it should be no problem. All I need you to do is hold a knife to the throat of the hostage."

"Providing that we get a hostage and a knife," Ashley grumbled. "Everything seems to depend on those two things, and we don't have neither."

"All the guards carry Glock pistols and a three inch smooth bladed knife," Legolas said dismissively. He had taken notice of the weapons from the moment he had first seen Andre through the living room window at Shawn's. "The weapons will not be a difficulty."

"Sure," Ashley said sarcastically. "It will all go as smooth as can be, and we'll waltz outta here without a care. This is the most stupid, harebrained, idiotic plan I've ever heard of in my entire life, no matter how many movies I've watched."

"I don't care _what _in all the world and beyond you think," Legolas snapped, feeling his nerves fraying rapidly. "I just need to know if I can depend on you. Can I?"

Ashley seemed taken back at his abrupt outburst, unused to seeing the normally unflappable Lance loosing his temper. "Well, I suppose," she said at last with a half-hearted shrug. "I know Kell will never let Shawn and I out of this place alive, so we might as well go down fighting."

Legolas nodded, working on patch his nerves back together again, feeling the headache that the water had temporarily chased away returning in full force. He hated loosing it, but Ashley certainly knew how to push one's limit. "Good," he said, suddenly grim as he heard a sound from the other room, "because someone's coming."

"Oh, joy," Ashley muttered. "Here we go."

"Just do what I explained to you," Legolas said, pushing back the chair and standing. "I'm sure you can do it. Just try not to kill him unless you absolutely have to." He stuffed the headband into his back pocket, careful to let the ends hand hang out a few inches, and turned to face the door. "Stay right behind me."

She nodded, and seconds later, the door hissed open to reveal their target, a young man with red hair and freckles. "Come on, you two," he snarled, his little boy looks ending with the startling revelation of character. "Break time's over." He gestured impatiently at the room behind him where Kell and four other soldiers were waiting with Shawn.

Legolas scowled at him but made for the door, his face sullen. He was aware of Ashley's direct presence behind him and could feel the tenseness and fear radiating from her. He just hoped her anticipation was not obvious to Kell who was watching them through narrowed eyes, his fingers curled around the handgrip of his pistol.

Ignoring the man for a moment, Legolas focused instead on the redhead, his hand moving unobtrusively toward his pocket as he stepped up next to the man. Taking a final, deep breath to calm himself completely, he tilted his head back toward Ashley before grabbing the headband from his pocket.

The soldier evidently had no idea what was happening until the smooth fabric was twisted tightly around his throat, and Legolas jerked him in front of him and Ashley. Without pausing, he snatched the man's knife and pistol and threw the former to Ashley as he passed the ends of the head band to her.

Even as he opened fire on the stupefied soldiers in the other room, Ashley had pulled the man's head back with a force that caused his neck to crack and placed the glistening knife blade against throat beside the silk band. Confident that she had the man under control, Legolas dove from the doorway, pistol spitting out a deadly but controlled barrage of steel. The soldier grasping Shawn's arm fell with a small indention between his eyes, and another staggered back with two precise holes in his chest. The three others also fell with fatal head or throat wounds, and with exact and deadly calm, Legolas emptied the rest of his clip into Kell's chest.

He could tell by the look in the man's eyes even as the rouge agent fell, that something was not right. However, he pushed aside the suspicions on why the soldiers had not made any attempt to return fire and ran toward a dazed looking Shawn, who stared at Legolas as if he was some sorcerer from a fairytale. "How?" he murmured as Legolas inspected the handcuff around the young man's wrists.

"Never mind how," Legolas retorted, stepping away from his friend and leaning down to pick up one of the SIGs from a fallen soldier. "We're getting out of here."

"Not yet," a cool voice spoke from behind him, as Ashley screamed. Kell pushed himself up on one arm and pulled the trigger of the small 9 mm pistol in his grasp. The weapon spat twice, and Legolas felt a tearing pain in his left shoulder as the bullet shattered at impact. Pain slammed into him with tsunami like force, and the world swayed. He dropped down to one knee, the SIG falling from nerveless fingers. He could think and focus on nothing but the fact that he had failed, as his knees gave way, and he collapsed to the floor, dimly hearing Ashley screaming Shawn's name.

He forced his shocked and weary body to move as he rolled on his back to glance over at Shawn. The young man lay perfectly still on the floor, his eyes closed and a large, dark stain spreading over his chest. Ashley flew over to him and dropped on her knees by his side, weeping bitterly and desperately calling him. Shawn made no movement and did not seem to hear his sister's distraught voice, a small voice whispering to Legolas that his chest did not seem to be moving.

_No, no, no…_He could not stand the thought. _He couldn't be dead, he couldn't._ He turned his glazed, but hate-filled gaze on Kell, still not able to believe that the man lived. He had watched as the bullets hammered into the man, sending his staggering backward, and the four holes in Kell's shirt proved it.

Kell laughed hollowly and opened his shirt to show the black vest beneath it. "Have you not met Kevlar armor, Lasgalen? It's most effective."

Stunned, Legolas stared at the vest, cursing himself viciously for his oversight. If only he had placed those bullets a foot higher… "Why?" he gasped out, motioning weakly at Shawn. "Why did you shoot him? He was no threat."

Kell glanced at Shawn's motionless body indifferently. "Oh, I believe I told you that I'd kill him if you attempted to escape." He smiled coldly. "I always keep my word."

Feeling a mindless fury rising within him, Legolas grabbed for a pistol that lay a foot away, intent in his rage in kill the creature that had destroyed his friend, but a bullet slammed into the weapon, sending it flipping out of reach.

"Control yourself, Lasgalen," Kell chided, touching the radio on his belt, as he stepped over to stare down at him smugly. "Have you ever been hit with a Black Talon 'Starpoint' cartridge before? It's an interesting experience to feel it expanding on contact, isn't it?" He looked his pistol over before lifting it to point directly down at his prisoner's chest. "Would you like another one?"

Legolas struggled to control his erratic breathing as he glared up at Kell, his eyes challenging the man to pull the trigger and end it all. "_Lin gwand, le hú,_" he spat, the words escaping him as a venomous whisper. "_Lin gwand_."

Kell scowled at him. "Curse me in English, if you please. Otherwise, I would like a translation."

"I shall keep my language to myself and use it as I see fit," Legolas returned, his eyes flashing with pain and fury.

Kell callously jabbed his boot into the elf's ribs, causing him to groan and curl up on himself. "We'll see about that, Lasgalen. You will be singing like a bird before too much longer." He glanced over at the door as it opened and five other soldiers entered. "Clear away the bodies," he ordered, "and bind Lasgalen and the girl back how they were before."

Legolas toned the man out, fighting to keep himself conscious. His heart raced in his chest, and he could feel the harshness of each breath he drew, the slight movement of chest sending flashes of agony from his shoulder. The warm wetness of his own blood trickled down his arm and side, coloring his blue tee shirt a moist brown. He felt pain, but it seemed less then he should feel, and he feared that his body was going into shock. Slowly, he turned his gaze to look down at his shoulder but was unable to see the bullet wound beneath the blood and torn fabric.

A figure leaned across his blurred vision, and rough hands grabbed his right arm and hauled him to his feet, dragging a cry from his lips. His eyes slid shut, and he felt his very strength draining from him as the bleeding intensified. He was drug across the room, and though he tried to walk, he only managed an occasional step. The soldiers threw him down on the platform and bound his wrists by his sides, making no attempt to remove the projectile or slow the bleeding. He let them do as they wished and did not try to struggle, for his body would refuse to obey his mind's commands, anyway. As for his mind…

It was a puzzle to him, for he felt as if he should be drowning in grief, but instead, his emotions were a ragged maelstrom which raged without direction or purpose. Part of him was frozen with shock at Shawn's death, and the other half of him screamed out in denial, refusing to believe that his friend was gone. But there was no sorrow, no heartache, just empty coldness that trapped his emotions inside an icy prison, refusing their release. He felt lost like never before, caged between reality and denial, with no outlet for the sorrow he _knew _he held within him.

He vaguely heard Ashley screaming, pleading, and begging, as they pulled her away from her brother's body and bound her to the chair, and he forced his eyes open. Kell's self-satisfied leer met his gaze, and he pushed down the irrational urge to jerk free of his bonds and throw himself at the man's throat. It had been thousands of years since such uncontrolled hate had seeped through his ever bone, drowning all but a desire for unreserved and complete vengeance. Now, however, he would have given all of his immortal life to slid one of his knives across that man's throat. Slowly.

Kell seemed to guess his thoughts and chuckled softly as he surveyed his prisoners. "I will leave you for the time being, Lasgalen," he said, stepping away and heading for the door. "Perhaps," he added almost as an afterthought, glancing back at him, "you will be more willing to talk once you fully understand the implications of what has happened here." There was clearly a double meaning to his words, but he left without expanding further.

For a few moments, there was no noise but the soft speech of Kell's men as they removed the bodies and Ashley's hushed weeping. At last, the soldiers left, and Ashley's sobbing quieted, leaving an unnerving silence behind. Legolas stared sightlessly at the ceiling, letting his physical pain distract him from his emotional state, as he struggled again and again to hold in the pain that was steadily worsening as the shock wore off.

"Why didn't you listen to me?" the voice caught him off guard, and he turned his head cautiously to face Ashley. The girl's face was streaked with blood and tears, and her eyes were filled with fury, grief, and betrayal. Her eyes glittered with anger as she stared at him, her face twisted with hate. "I warned you that this was stupid, but you didn't listen! If it wasn't for you, _he _wouldn't be dead."

Legolas was taken back by the vehemence of her tone and suddenly felt a wave of utter exhaustion crumble what little remained of his self-possession. Kell might have his naïve moments, but he certainly knew how to exploit the human (or elven) mind and emotions. He had worked his miracle mental drug, but whether he had been as successful as he claimed, Legolas did not know. Now, however, he was hitting on something that hurt worse than Legolas could have ever imagined. Guilt, responsibility, and friendship.

"He was always so kind to you, but you tossed away his life as if it were nothing!" Ashley continued her rant, and Legolas flinched at each word. "Did you ever care, or were you just manipulating his trust for your own ends? Is blasted information you carry worth more to you than the life of one of your friends? _You_ letthem kill him! _You_ don't even care! He was my _brother_, you hear, my brother! How could _you_ have risked his life? Do _you_ even have any feelings? This is _your_ fault! _You_ killed him! Maybe not directly, but indirectly, _you_ murdered him!"

Legolas turned his face away, fighting to control the feelings swirling within him. Her words struck him truer than any arrow, and their icy fury dowsed his own anger, releasing the grief that was confined beneath. Heartache so strong that it seemed tangible, crashed into him, shaking him to the very core. It was worse, because he knew her words held truth. He had been rash, and his recklessness had cost the life one of his few friends in the world. He had failed to protect Shawn, failed to put the safety of an innocent before his own. He felt the pain, both physical and mental, rise up within him and did not even attempt to suppress it. He shut his eyes tightly as the tears came: tears of rage, sorrow, guilt, and failure. What dark menace directed his fate that all his choices should be thwarted so heartlessly? He had tried, oh Valar, he had tried, but his attempt had not succeeded. Instead, he had failed, and his hands were soaked with the blood of the innocent.

o-0-o-0-o

Elladan leaped from branch to branch through the trees, no more than a passing shadow to the dark clad guards beneath him. Pausing on a higher branch, he counted the shapes below, his elven eyes piercing the darkness with ease. There were four men scattered about the edge of the woods along the driveway of Legolas' house, and they were simply armed with silenced pistols. He glanced over at the house and watched the silhouette of his brother tread lightly across the roof and begin to pry at the skylight with his knife.

Elrohir had been certain that there were more men inside and insisted that he be the one to 'take them out' as he put it. Elladan rolled his eyes despite the anxiety he felt for his twin's eagerness for a fight. Elrohir would not shed blood unless absolutely necessary, but he had always been the rasher of the pair and more prone to violent displays of anger. Elladan secretly dreaded what Elrohir would do in the upcoming prisoner interrogation, providing they managed to pull this off without being killed.

A clap of thunder startled him from his reflections, and a bolt of lighting spread its mithril web across the black sky as the rain began to fall. Elladan shook the offending droplets from his eyes and shifted impatiently, wondering what in the world was taking Elrohir so long to open the skylight. His eye caught movement, and the guard closest to him stepped back under the protection of the trees, efficiently hiding himself from both the rain and his companions. Scarcely had the man done so, when Elrohir lifted the skylight and disappeared through the opening.

Knowing the time for action had come, Elladan dropped silently from the tree and circled around behind the guard. Like all warriors, he preferred a straight kill to disablement or capture, for knocking people unconscious was extremely difficult and dangerous. Unsure if his idea would work, he slipped up behind the guard, his footsteps noiseless on the wet leaves. Pausing less than a foot behind the man, he flexed his fingers, breathed a quick prayer to Eru, and acted.

In one quick movement, he pulled the man tightly against himself and wrapped his right hand around the man's throat, pushing upward against his jaw to cut off all oxygen. The man started and struggled furiously, but Elladan only tightened his grip, counting on the heavy rain to hide the noise from the man's companions.

The man yanked his pistol up and aimed in blindly behind himself, squeezing the trigger in desperation. There was no noise but the soft click of the trigger, and Elladan jerked his head to the side as the wind from the bullet caressed his cheek. Before the man could fire a second time, he grabbed the man's arm and dug his fingers deeply into his wrist. The man's grip relaxed and the weapon fell from paralyzed fingers. Moments later, the man's struggles ceased and he slumped in the arms of his attacker, his eyes glassy.

Elladan lowered the unconscious man to the ground and relieved him of the pistol. He remained still for a moment, finding that his heart was racing, and he knew that this would never work. Even if he did manage to send another into unconsciousness before the other thugs heard something, he did not know how long they would remain unconscious before waking. Five minutes, ten? He didn't think much longer than that.

If only knocking people out was as easy as it was in the movies…

He did not want to kill them – they were men and perhaps had families – for he had always found it difficult to take the life of an intelligent being who was not an orc. But now, these men stood between him and the potential rescue of Legolas, and he was willing, albeit reluctantly, to take human lives to ensure the safety of his friend.

Having reached this conclusion, Elladan left the man lying on the rain-soaked ground and started for the next guard. The downpour increased, and not even the thick ceiling of leaves above blocked out the heavy drops. His dark hair was soon plastered against his face and his cloths clung to his skin, but he paid the discomfort no heed as he studied the three guards before him. They, unlike his first victim, were careful to remain in sight of one another and stood patiently in the rain without even attempting to find cover.

A streak of lightning lit the sky, and Elladan ducked behind a tree to remain hidden, as the thugs' grim features were briefly brought to light. As the thunder rumbled ominously above, he waited no more but brought the pistol and pulled the trigger. The first collapsed silently, and for a brief moment, the others stood frozen, clearly uncertain of what had happened. Their hesitation gave him enough time to drop the second before the third, now alerted to the direction of where the shots were originating, jerked up his pistol and fired toward the elf's hiding place.

Elladan jumped back behind the tree once more, as the bullets scorched the air around him and hammered into the tree. Even though he was not a wood-elf, he could almost hear the tree's cries of pain, for he knew that Legolas had woken the trees around his house, and he laid his hand on the back and whispered an apology. Leaping up into the branches, he climbed until he could see the figure of the gunman lying in the underbrush, his pistol wavering back and forth as the thug sought for his attacker.

Murmuring a second apology, this time to the thug, for it went against his honor to shoot a man in an unfair fight, he quickly ended the quick fight with one last projectile. The man twitched and went still, and Elladan dropped lightly back to the ground, sighing lightly. Returning to the unconscious man, he lifted him with difficulty and started for the house which had remained worryingly silent throughout the whole ordeal.

As he approached, his ears caught a low, choked off cry of pain, and he sighed, knowing that Elrohir had finished clearing the house and had moved on to the more 'delicate' work. Walking silently up the steps, he awkwardly opened the door and stepped inside.

Three thugs were trussed up, gagged, and laid in a neat row across the living room floor, glaring balefully as at him as he entered. Elrohir had tied a fourth to a dinning room chair and was sitting facing him in another, switch-blade in one hand and a sewing needle in the other.

Oh Valar…

Elrohir looked up as he entered. "Finished, 'Dan?"

Elladan deposited the unconscious man on the floor and began to bind him with the rope he found lying discarded on the couch. "Yes," he answered shortly. He paused his work and gestured at the frightened thug. "Is that really necessary?"

"I _did _ask nicely first," Elrohir replied, sounded irritated. He set his articles of trade on the table and ran his hand through his hair with a heavy sigh. "I don't enjoy this, you know. I just want to find Legolas."

Elladan finished the last knot and stood, switching on the lights. The thugs blinked owlishly, and he stepped over them to stand beside Elrohir. "I understand," he said, laying a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. "Let me try."

He turned to the thug. "How much is your employer paying you?"

The thug, a young man of about twenty-five, shifted uncomfortably. "A lot," he finally mumbled.

"How much?" Elladan persisted.

"Three grand each," was the muttered reply.

"Talk, and I'll double that," Elladan said.

A greedy gleam entered the other's eyes. "Double? Six thousand?"

"No more, but yes," Elladan answered, seeing the opening. "Agreed?"

The thug nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. The boss' name is Kell, Norman Kell. I really don't know that much about him, only that he has his base of operations three hours away in the mountains. He probably took your friend there. If he did, you're fightin' a losing battle, man. Security's so tight they know if a deer is within a half-mile of the place."

"Will you take us there?" Elrohir asked.

The thug paled. "No way, man! If he caught me, I'd be worse than dead. Probably test some new strange experiment on me or something. That guy's screwy. I'll tell you how to find it, then just let me go, and I'll never come back."

"I understand," Elladan soothed. "I'm not sure if I can let you loose though, because how do I know you won't call Kell and tell him were coming?"

"And lose three thousand bucks?" the thug asked, clearly shocked at the very idea. "No way! Your little secret is safe with me."

Elladan stared at him for a few moments in contemplation. At last, he nodded. "Fine." He stepped over to the wall and retrieved a set of keys from a shelf on the wall. "Take these keys. They go to the silver Pontiac in the driveway. Hit the road and go to the small town ten miles south of here. Check into a room in the seedy little motel on main street and wait there. I'll bring you the money before we leave. If you stay true to your word and remain quiet about what's happened, you can keep the car, and I'll add another two thousand to your check after we get back. Now, tell us how to get to Kell."

Fairly glowing, the thug nodded rapidly and rattled off the directions. When he was finished, Elladan cut his ropes and tossed him the keys. Offering quick thanks, the young man ducked out the door, leaving his seething companions behind.

Elrohir turned to face his twin, a strange look on his face. "I'm not sure Legolas will be pleased that you gave his car away."

Elladan shrugged, stepping toward the basement door. "He e-mailed us six years ago saying he bought that car. It's high time he gets a new one. After this is over, we'll go shopping. Ferrari?"

Elrohir grinned. "Yeah, a red one."

o-0-o-0-o

**Translations: **

_Ithil – _the moon

_muindor -nin – _my brother

_adan – _man

_celva – _animal[s

_Lin gwand, le hú – _You're dead, you dog

_Lin gwand – _You're dead

**A/N: **-ducks sharp articles thrown at her by angry readers- Sorry, sorry! When I said no character death, I meant Legolas, Elladan, and Elrohir. Well, pleaseee don't be _too _mad at me for Shawn's _death_. I can't say why besides, "Not all hope is lost nor is all as it seems." ;-) Please leave me a review, and I'll try to update again in a week! Ila


	5. Plans and Uncertainties

Hey, everyone! Sorry this is so late! Thanks to reviewers _**Dark Devotions, **_ _**joshifine**_, _**White Atropos, sidera, Jimmy Candlestick, trecebo, and Peregrin Ionad**_. You guys made a two hard weeks special! Thanks for sticking with me! Ila

**Chapter Five: Plans and Uncertainties **

Elladan motioned for Elrohir to remain with the prisoners and opened the door, flicking on the light. The cherry wood steps were revealed, and he ran lightly down them and entered the basement. It seemed just like a normal basement with interesting trinkets packed away in numberless boxes stacked neatly in piles. An old bookcase stood against the far wall and was filled with countless volumes, almost all titled in Sindarin, though there were some in Quenya as well as a few, he noted with surprise, in Dwarvish. So, Legolas _had_ convinced Gimli to teach him the dwarves' tongue. That would have been an argument to behold. Shaking his head with a smile, Elladan scanned the walls carefully.

The walls of the room looked completely standard with no abnormalities that could signify a hidden door or entrance. Narrowing his eyes, Elladan walked around the room, feeling the walls and searching for any hollow sound. However, he found nothing.

_Blast it all, Legolas, _he thought irritably. _When you hinted ten years ago at hiding something unusual in your basement, you could have at least made it easier to find._ His gaze wandered back to the bookcase, and he stepped over, giving it a slight jerk. It did not move, and he scowled. Leaning on it and frowning thoughtfully, he let his gaze wander over the titles. He saw many of history, legends, and myths along with books on old herbal remedies and one that particularly caught his eye. _Lhûth o i Dúnedhil. _Spells of the Elves…

Intrigued, he pulled it from the shelf with care and opened the worn leather to the first page. To his surprise, three words were reverently written in familiar Tengwar across the top of the parchment. _Estel a Gimli, Elvellyn. _

"Hope and Gimli, Elf-friends," he murmured aloud, his heart aching slightly at the thought of his beloved foster brother. No sooner had he spoken the words, than the entire bookshelf slid to the side, revealing a door behind it. For a moment, he stood frozen with surprise, the thought that he had cast a spell hitting him rather late. "Idiotic Silvens," he muttered.

Shutting the book gently, he placed it back on the shelf and stepped up to the door. Luckily, he though wryly, it had a good old-fashioned doorknob and needed no spell to open it. Grinning at the slyness of his friend, he opened the door and stepped into a… He blinked as the lights came on. A museum and armory combined?

Legolas, he decided numbly, would never cease to amaze him.

There were matchlock pistols and archaic rifles from what looked like the late sixteen hundreds, several beautiful rapiers, and three ornate daggers. There were also bags of gold and silver coins that would be worth millions nowadays, not even to mention that there were several wooden chests which were securely locked.

There were also numerous weapons from what appeared to be from the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World War I. There were two full World War II uniforms folded neatly, one German and the other English. There was also a splattering of guns and bayonets, along with an entire crate of grenades. Beside the grenades, a second crate held pack after pack of remote CO2 explosives. Different types of silenced and normal pistols decorated the walls along with several AR-15s, SIGs, and…

In the corner sat the highlight of the whole collection, at least in Elladan's eyes. Two, gleaming, black Mini Uzis stood menacingly in their stands, the two backpacks sitting beside them looking as if they were stuffed to the brim with 9 mm Parabellum rounds. Four magazines, two 25-round and two 50-round lay beside the weapons, fully loaded.

"Wow," was the only thing that escaped him. Almost tenderly, he picked one up and unfolded the stock. It had a laser sight and a flashlight mounted on the barrel along with LED open sights; the other was outfitted the same way. He and Elrohir had never shot Uzis before, but Legolas had always called them ammo eaters, citing that they shot 16-rounds a second on fully automatic.

_It's kind of like a sword or a garden hose, _the blond elf had joked. _Just wave it around until you hit something. However, it goes through ammo like a hobbit eats food._

Grabbing one of the backpacks, Elladan dumped half of the bullets onto the floor and hurriedly tossed in the magazines, a couple handfuls of grenades, and some CO2 explosives along with several boxes of ammunition for some wicked looking, pocket-sized, silenced pistols. He also found and added several ear bud sized comlinks which just _happened_ to be sitting on a shelf next to the Uzis. Zipping shut the pack, he slipped both backpacks on his shoulders and pocketed the two small pistols. Picking up the Uzis, he reluctantly left the room, careful to step over what looked like three land mines from the Vietnam war.

Where _did_ that crazy elf get all this stuff?

The moment he shut the door, he jumped out of the way, as the bookcase slid back into place behind him. Shaking his head once more at Legolas' creativity, he plodded up the stairs, his footsteps heavy under the combined weight of the backpacks. Carefully opening the door, he switched off the basement light and laid the weapons and backpacks on the table before the wide eyes of his brother.

"Where in the blazes did you find these?" Elrohir demanded, reaching for an Uzi.

Elladan surrendered one, grinning at him, and replied in Sindarin to keep the prisoners from understanding, "I think that should be obvious. Legolas had a lot more in the hole than he let on. I haven't even touched his hoard." He went through the pack, showing his brother all his findings.

"These comlink things are cool," Elrohir said in the same language, slipping it in his ear. It fit like the ear bud for his ipod. "Not the top state of the art, but close. Hey, _muindor_, we should join the FBI so we can get all these goodies."

"I don't think he got all this through the FBI," Elladan replied dryly. "But if you want to go to all the work, go ahead and join."

Elrohir pondered that for a minute. "I like work," he said at last, a roguish smile on his face. "It fascinates me. I could sit by and watch it forever."

Elladan rolled his eyes and put on his comlink. "Sure, sure. Where did you learn that witty phrase? I doubt you made it up."

Elrohir shrugged. "I don't know – I heard it somewhere, I guess. Does this work?" he asked, switching on the comlink.

Elladan jumped and jerked the bud from his ear, sputtering curses in a multitude of languages and glaring at his brother.

"I'll take that as a yes, then," Elrohir laughed. "Better adjust the volume." He loaded one of the small pistols and slipped it in his back pocket before sliding a clip into one of the Uzis and turning an evil eye on the prisoners. "What are we going to do with them?"

"I'll call the cops and tell them that we heard a disturbance in the house and let them take care of the prisoners and bodies," Elladan replied, fiddling with the comlink before replacing it rather tentatively in his ear.

Elrohir nodded. "While you're doing that, I'll separate the prisoners and shut them in different rooms. There's bound to be more rope somewhere around here."

"I saw some in the basement," Elladan replied, flipping open his cell phone and dialing. "Legolas seems to keep everything on hand."

Elrohir hefted his Uzi and grinned at the thugs before laying it down on the table. "That's perfectly fine by me."

o-0-o-0-o

Legolas had not planned on falling asleep, but his wounded body and soul and his exhausted mind won out, dropping him into a restless sleep from which he was awoken by a rude slap across the face. Opening his eyes, for he had been sleeping with them closed, he found himself looking up into Kell's smirking face.

Exhaling wearily, he closed his eyes once more and turned his face away, not wanting to cope with the man just yet. Kell, however, was persistent and, reaching down, pressed the elf's injured shoulder.

Legolas hissed with pain, and he jerked to the side in a vain effort to escape the pressure. "_Pe-channas_!" he spat. "Do you want anything, _gwelu-dôl,_ or have you come here just to gloat?"

"Touché," Kell said with a hollow laugh. "Always this angry when things go wrong for you?"

"I understand what you are trying to do by killing and threatening my friends," Legolas replied coldly, "and I assure you it was the worst choice you ever made. I vow by the Valar not to give you even the pettiest amount of information. Go ahead and kill off the rest of the world; it will not change my decision the slightest."

"You're bluffing," Kell said easily. "Let me tell you what I've deduced so far. After we brought you in, and you were still drugged, I had one of the doctors here look at your leg wound. Before he bandaged it, he took several blood and tissue samples. With them, he will try to construct a way for us men to be immortal and disease free also."

Legolas cocked an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "You are chasing _elei_," he said scornfully. "What if you do succeed? With no one dying, you _edain_ reproduce fast enough to overwhelm the globe in a year. Is that your idea of success?"

Kell shook his head with a laugh. "I'll figure something out. Perhaps an occasional nuclear war will keep the population under control."

"You are sick," Legolas replied, his eyes flaming.

Kell seemed to find that amusing. "Oh? I'm afraid I hadn't noticed."

"You are sick," Legolas repeated as if the man had not even spoken, "and I will kill you like the coward you are. Listen well, for I do not say such things lightly."

Kell lost his pleased look, and his face flushed an angry red. "You are bound and helpless, and you dare to threaten me?"

"I am not threatening," Legolas said, his face expressionless except for the icy determination shining from his eyes. "I _never _threaten. I am merely informing you of what will come to pass."

He jerked his head to the side as Kell backhanded him viciously. "Are you completely stupid?" Kell hissed. "Or has your imprisonment driven you crazy? Even if you were free and armed, why would you warn me if you wanted to kill me?"

Legolas allowed slight distain to encroach on his impassive features. "Being in the FBI does not make me some mindless assassin. If you simply think I will kill you with a bullet in the back, you are sadly mistaken. I prefer knives, a frontal attack, and your slow, drawn-out demise." He gave a humorless smile. "Living forever has given me ample time to learn different and exotic ways to lengthen someone's death."

Kell had turned an interesting shade of grey. It was interesting, Legolas thought wryly, how many different colors an _adan's _face could turn. It seemed that the light grey shade stemmed from a mixture of terror and fury, though, of course, he could be mistaken…

Kell turned away from him in an abrupt motion and stood facing the wall, his shoulders trembling with restrained passion and his hands clasped behind his back. "You ask for me to kill you," he said, his voice ice.

Legolas laughed harshly. "Perhaps, that is my wish, yet perhaps, I just enjoy tormenting you."

Kell spun back toward him, his face twisted with fury, and his hand clenched around the handgrip of his pistol. "What about her?" he shouted, gesturing at Ashley, who sat watching the exchanged with dulled, uninterested eyes. "Do you want me to kill her as I did the boy?"

Legolas allowed his face to harden. "If you harm her, you destroy your last chance of getting me to talk. However, if you release her unharmed and let her return home with her brother's body, it may loosen my tongue."

"That is out of the question!" Kell snapped. "She knows who I am."

Legolas eyed him with sudden weariness, not in the mood to argue with the man. "You know my secret, what more do you want from me? Kill me or let me go; there is no reason to keep me imprisoned here."

"I know you and the other two are not the only elves here on earth!" Kell retorted roughly. He drew a deep breath and calmed himself. "You did not tell me much about your twin companions, besides their names, while under the influence of the truth serum. Tell me where they are."

"I have no idea were my companions are," Legolas replied, his tone sharp. "But I swear that we are the only elves on earth."

Kell stared at him through narrow eyes. "I find that hard to believe."

"I do not particularly care what you believe," Legolas answered testily. "The truth is still the truth and cannot be altered by your misconceptions."

"Truth is very relative," Kell returned. He leaned back against the wall and studied the elf. "But I have not come here to trade words with you." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a photograph. "Have you ever seen this person before?"

Legolas forced his weary eyes to focus. The photograph was a black and white picture that looked as if it had been taken from a paused security camera. A tall man with a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes stood beside a tree in what seemed to be a forest. The man openly carried a small pistol, and he wore jeans and a hooded green sweatshirt. The way he was standing threw his face in a shadow, but a strong feeling came over Legolas. He knew this man, he knew him well, but he could not mold the feeling into a name.

"No," he said at last, tearing his gaze from the picture and looking over at Kell, careful to hide all expression from his face and eyes. "I do not recognize this person."

"Indeed," Kell said his own face neutral. "Indeed."

Legolas closed his eyes and sighed, wondering why the truth was so hard for the man to believe. "And _why _do you want to know if I know that person?" he asked.

Kell shrugged lightly. "He's been encroaching on our boundaries ever since we brought you here. Why would he do so if he were not interesting in you?"

Legolas frowned thoughtfully. "I do not recognize him," he repeated, uncertain how to answer Kell's question.

Something flickered in the man's eyes. "Perhaps you do not recognize him," he said slowly, his crazed gaze locked with the elf's, "but do you _know _him?"

Legolas froze, asking that same question of himself. _Did_ he know that man? The person was too tall to be the twins, who were probably deep in Washington D.C. searching for Jared, anyway. He knew no others that would be like that man. He shook his head slowly. "No," he said, wondering why it felt as if he were lying.

Kell was not convinced. "Really?"

"I don't _know_," Legolas replied, frustration welling up inside of him, frustration at both himself and Kell. His emotional and physical stress was wearing down his impassive front, and he felt the edges of panic tinge his mind.

"Then you do not mind if I order him terminated?" Kell asked casually, as if he was discussing what brand of wine to buy at the store. "He is becoming a nuisance."

"Don't!" Legolas snapped, surprising even himself with the fear in his tone. "Warn him off or something, but don't hurt him."

"Why?" Kell asked simply.

Legolas found himself at a loss for words. "Enough blood has been spilled already," he said at last, knowing that was not the reason but having no other.

A strange look passed over Kell's face, and a feral smile found its way to his lips. "I see." He turned and walked swiftly toward the door, laughing softly to himself.

o-0-o-0-o

**Translations:**

_Lhûth o i Dúnedhil_ – Spells of the Elves (Dúnedhil are a name for the Noldor and Sindar elves)

_Estel a Gimli, Elvellyn – _Hope and Gimli, Elf-friends

_muindor – _brother(by blood)

_Pe-channas_ – Idiot (Literally, 'lacking intelligence')

_gwelu-dôl – _air-head

_elei – _dreams

_edain_ – men

_adan – _man

**A/N: **I apologize that this chapter is a week late and rather short. Things are rather busy here, and I am sick once again. sighs For those of you who aren't reading _The Blades of Eru, _I have too many non-fanfic writing assignments calling me and a rather strict writing mentor who wants me back on schedule with my book. I will no longer be able to post regularly, but I will _**not**_ leave this story unfinished. There just may be some wide gaps between posts. sobs and then suddenly brightens Of course, a few more reviews might motivate me to stay up later and write a little faster. I _know _how many people are reading and not reviewing, well over a hundred, and I would appreciate a little note to help encourage me. puppy dog eyes Even if you don't review, however, I'm glad that you are reading and enjoying this story. Oh, and I don't think _any_ of you will ever guess who the mysterious guy is. snickers I think there will be some action in the next chapter.

Thank you all so much! Ila


	6. Stranger's Identity

**A/N: **Ha! I was looking back at my first chapter today, and I had said this fic would be no longer than four chapters. Uh…yeah. So much for that! :-) I think I will have about two more chapters after this, but I'm not certain. Don't want to miss guess again…

Anyway, I'd like to thank _**szepilona10, Inwe Nolatari, trecebo, ringbearingreasergal, Calathiel of Mirkwood, joshifine, Peregrin Inonad,**_ and _**Jimmy Candlestick**_ for reviewing on chapter five! Thank you so much, you guys! I really appreciate the encouragement! Now! On to chapter six so you all can discover the….

**Chapter Six: Stranger's Identity **

A knife flashed soundlessly in the darkness, and the man collapsed, revealing the dark shadow behind him. A jagged line of bodies wrapped around the outside of the razor wire fence which encircled the grey stone building, a silent testament to the silent specter who had ended their lives. The form reached down and wiped the blade of the knife on the shirt of the final sentry, his movements smooth and completely noiseless.

The figure paused and ran gleaming blue eyes over the razor wire. After a moment of contemplation, a slim hand ducked into the pocket of the black jeans and pulled out a wire cutter. The form hesitated for a brief moment and glanced down the brown track that consisted to this building's road. They should be here soon. But he knew he could not wait for the aid. The precious minutes were ticking by, and time was running out for the one he sought.

He shuddered visibly at the thought of coming too late and sheathed the knife with a trembling hand. He knew the danger of what he was about to do, knew the risks that it held, but he had no other options. He shed the sweatshirt and pushed the baseball cap back slightly, revealing short blond hair. Adjusting the holster for the Glock 18 pistol at his side, he grasped the wire cutters and attacked the fence vigorously.

In less then five minutes, a small hole was made in the fence, and the figure slipped through the wire into the complex. Though the ground was covered in sticks and dried leaves, his footsteps made no noise, and he crept silently up to the single guard who leaned indolently on the door, weapon dangling carelessly.

The figure paused for a brief moment before drawing the knife once more and flipping it so he grasped the end of the blade. In a quick flick of the wrist, he threw the sharp object, watching as it rotated through the air and slammed into the throat of the guard. The man's eyes went wide with horror and a strangled gasp escaped him before he slumped to the ground.

The phantom stepped forward and retrieved his blade, leaning over the dead guard's body, a look of sorrow in the ancient eyes. "_Goheno nin_," he whispered, saddened that all this death must happen over one man's greed. Reaching down, he gently closed the guard's eyes.

Straightening, the black clad figure moved toward the door and drew a thin, two by four inch object from inside his shirt. Placing it on the door, he punched a button. A small orange screen lit up and a list of numbers began steadily decreasing.

Abandoning all semblance of caution, he jumped away from the door, slapping more of the charges against the walls of the building as he ran. Reaching the base of a tree, he leaped up into the branches and walked along a limb until he was above the roof of the complex. Dropping down on the flat roof, he sprinted across the roof and pulled up a grate, dropping without hesitation into the darkness below as the small orange numbers hit zero.

o-0-o-0-o

Legolas hissed in a mixture of anger and pain as a fresh charge jolted through him. Kell had evidently become tired of whatever games he was playing and decided to follow through with his earlier threat, activating the elf's electric bonds. Every time he moved, an electric charge originated from his wrists and traveled through his body. The volts were not fatal, just painful, and though he tried to remain still, even the very slightest movement set them off.

And right now, remaining perfectly still was an agony. His shoulder throbbed unmercifully, and he trembled slightly as the loss of blood began to affect him. His head felt light and the room tilted dizzyingly whenever he blinked. He grimaced as another volt ripped through him, and a spasm reflexively shook his frame. Luckily, it paused five seconds after each strike so the spasms would not set if off into a continuous cycle.

He sighed and closed his eyes, feeling despair prying at his heart. It was next to impossible that anyone would find him here, where ever here was, and he knew that there would be no more escape attempts. Kell and his cronies had seen to that. In one part of his mind, he ranted against the unfairness of the situation. He had lived so long and seen so much – even the changing of the world. Why would his life be so unjustly ended _now_? What was Ilúvatar's wisdom in this? Another part of him calmly and stoically accepted the fate assigned for him, knowing that there was a reason for everything, even if he could not see it at the moment. Perhaps this was Ilúvatar's way of calling him home.

"If you want me back so badly, you could have asked," he mumbled to himself. "Was it really necessary to go to these extremes?"

There was only silence to his question, but his musings were disrupted by a thunderous boom followed quickly by another and another. The entire building shook to its foundations and cracks appeared above him as plaster rained down from the ceiling. Ashley screamed, and Legolas flinched, half expecting the building to come crashing down, but though it creaked and groaned ominously, it remained standing.

A white, powdery dust filled the room, and Legolas coughed and shut his eyes. Shouts could be heard from the hallways and the sound of running footsteps. Moments later, the lights flickered and died, complete darkness falling over the room. Legolas gave his bonds a tentative jerk, and nothing happened. With a relived sigh, he let his elven eyes adjust and looked over at Ashley. She was trembling with fear and eyeing the ceiling warily but seemed fine.

Satisfied for the moment, he turned his attention to his bonds. He had never been awake long enough to try to escape his bonds before, but now, the guards would be distracted from the security cameras, and he might have a chance. As he worked his right wrist in its bindings, he pondered what could have caused such a violent explosion. He heard no gun fire, so he doubted that it was a rescue, but he could not quell the hope. Knowingly, Kell had been doing some other questionable activity, and it had backfired on him.

He smiled grimly at the thought and glanced at his wrist which was now wet with his own blood. The fluid made his wrist slick, and he ignored the stinging and patiently twisted his hand back and forth, attempting to work the manacle over his palm. Finally, he gave it a jerk, and the cuff slid off his wrist.

Wincing, he flexed the sore hand and slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. His head spun, and the bullet wound in his shoulder sent flashing of agonizing pain through his arm, but he tried his best to pay it no heed. He stared down at the steel binding his left wrist to the platform, knowing that there was no way he would be able to do the same thing with that hand. His shoulder would never allow him to put even the slightest bit of stress on it. He scowled at the offending wound.

Abruptly, the door slid open, and he sighed tiredly, wondering not for the first time if bad luck just naturally seemed to stick close to him. Bright flashlights held by several silhouettes shone into the room, and Legolas squinted and raised his free hand to shade his eyes.

"Been busy, I see, Lasgalen," one of the figures, Kell, said. His voice was taunt with strain and fury.

Legolas shrugged with his good shoulder, lowing his hand and letting his eyes adjust once more. "There wasn't anything else to do."

"Clean the blood off his wrist and bind him back down," Kell ordered the soldiers, he drew a pistol from his jacket in a silent warning against trying anything as the two men moved to obey. He impatiently pulled a radio off his belt. "Get the generators running now!"

Legolas did not resist as the soldiers bound him back down. It would have been foolish, and even if he could have , he would have never been able to get out alone, anyway. Part of him wondered if that was wisdom or despair speaking to him, but he really didn't care at the moment. It was just good to see Kell flustered.

Soon after the guards finished rebinding him, the lights flickered on dimly, lighting the room with a shadowy, yellow light. Legolas had to snicker at the sight of Kell. The normally dark haired man now sported locks white from plaster and drywall dust.

"What?" Kell demanded, hearing his quiet laugh.

"I am surprised how much the explosion aged you, _fern min_," Legolas answered cheekily. "But then, men age quickly."

Kell gave him a glare that would have cause Sauron to blink. "You don't look much better, elf. Shut up."

Legolas matched his glare with one of profound annoyance. "What is going on, _melch adan_? Did something go wrong, or is someone threatening your profits?"

"I _will _have everything back under control in a few moments," Kell shot back, his face flushed with sweat and anger. Stepping forward, he grasped the elf's shirt and shook him roughly. "Who is this blasted person?"

Legolas gasped with pain and shot him a death glare. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play coy with me," Kell snarled and backhanded him fiercely.

For a few moments, his mind wavered between unconsciousness and reality, and all was dark and uncertain. Legolas felt tempted just to give up and let the blackness take him, but his pride and honor fought desperately against the wish to surrender. With a deep shuddering breath, he pushed back all pessimistic thoughts and forced himself to open his eyes, unwilling to let Kell win.

But, except for Ashley, the room was empty.

He glanced around in confusion, wondering if he had been out longer than he had thought. With a frustrated sigh, he relaxed back on the hard platform and stared moodily at the plain white ceiling, dimmed a yellowish grey by the poor lighting.

And…the door hissed open once more.

Legolas sighed tiredly, resisting the urge to yell a list of choice dwarven and quenya expletives in the man's face. Couldn't he just leave him alone? As if things weren't bad enough without his _charming _presence.

A soft gasp from by the door caused him to glance quickly over, and he froze, his eyes wide and mouth dropping open with unabashed astonishment. It couldn't be…. This was not true – he had to be dreaming or hallucinating. Or perhaps, it was one final, cruel trick by Kell. It just couldn't be true.

But it was.

His tongue came unglued. "_Adar_!"

o-0-o-0-o

The tires of the corvette passed over the hard-packed dirt road with ease, belying the tension of its two occupants. Tree-covered mountains rose up as inky shadows and melded with the equally black sky on one side, as sheer cliffs dropped away on the other, disappearing into the night below. The lights of the vehicle pierced into the sinister murk and lit the road ahead, causing an occasional deer to dart deeper into the forest.

Then the mocking serenity of the night was broken by a thunderous explosion, the flames lighting up the sky in a spectacular display. The leaves on the trees quivered, the ground shook, and all the creatures ceased their nocturnal noises. All fell silent save for the roar of the car.

Elladan stared up at the mountain side as bright flames licked upward and colored the sky a foreboding orange. He glanced over at Elrohir who gripped the steering wheel tightly with white-knuckled hands, his face taunt and void of emotion.

"I think," the older twin said rather lamely, "we're getting close."

"Obviously," Elrohir said, his tone dry. "I wonder what that crazy elf is doing."

"If he's even there," Elladan muttered, eyeing the glowing skyline with growing concern. What is the thug had lied? What if they were walking into a trap? What if Legolas was – He choked off that thought before he could even finish thinking it.

_Think positive!_ he scolded himself. _If there _is _anything wrong, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. _

Elrohir shot him a knowing glance. "He's fine, you'll see. He's lived too long to go now." He twisted the wheel sharply, sending the vehicle skidding wildly around a curve. "Look – I see the complex."

Elladan peered ahead, the reprimand for his twin's harebrained driving already forgotten. Elrohir stopped the car, and they stared ahead at the burning building before them. Guards ran aimlessly about in the flickering light, seeming uncertain what to do, and the elves glanced at each other.

"We couldn't have a more perfect distraction than if we asked for it personally," Elrohir announced, grabbing his Uzi and opening the car door.

Elladan followed his example, swinging a backpack of ammo over his shoulders yet eyeing the blaze warily. "We better hurry, though. I doubt they'll get this under control, and I don't think they'll call the fire department."

Elrohir snorted, flicking the safety off his Uzi. "That would bust this little op of theirs for certain. Come on. Let's find Legolas. Just remember that you're going to explain what happened to his car once we find him."

"He won't need a car once I find him," Elladan said, his attempt at forced humor falling flat. He checked the 50-round clip once more and set off at a silent jog towards the building, his brother at his heels.

They reached the razor wire fence and steel gates, when Elladan stopped short with an exclamation of surprise and knelt beside the motionless form of a black clad guard lying motionless on the ground. In all appearances, he appeared to be sleeping except for the bloodied gash across his throat.

Frowning, Elladan searched the ground for tracks as to the man's killer, but the dirt was undisturbed. The man's weapon had not been taken and lay neatly beside him as if it had been placed there.

"Do you think Legolas got out by himself?" Elrohir asked.

Elladan did not answer immediately but touched the man's neck lightly before rocking back on his heels and chewing thoughtfully on the inside of his cheek. "I don't know," he admitted at last. "I believe only an elf could have made this kill, though I could be wrong. Even in this modern world, there are a few _edain _who can rival the elves with their woodcraft. Whoever did it is near, for it is only a few minutes old, and the blood is still warm and moist."

He stood and peered up at the gates, searching for handholds. "Whatever happened, we should still check the complex to make sure Legolas is not in there."

Elrohir nodded and sprang up the gate, scaling it with ease and dropping down the other side. Elladan followed him with slightly more care, his thoughts busily occupied with the new development. Dropping silently down, he took in the ever-changing positions of the frantic guards and ran his eyes along the burning building, searching for a usable entrance.

His scan of the area was interrupted by a familiar thwack-thwack-thwack which rose over the roar of the fire, and Elrohir grabbed his arm and pointed up into the sky as a large helicopter rose over the mountain and zeroed in on the complex.

The guards on the ground looked up a few moments later, and shouts of fresh panic and alarm spread among them. Several began to sprint towards the elven twins, thoughts of escape through the gate clear in their minds. Others raised their weapons and let loose a torrent of bullets at the approaching craft. The helicopter shrugged it off as if would a swarm of flies and replied with the memorable, thunderous fifty cal, raking its line of fire in systematic patterns across all open space.

The guards racing toward the gate fell first, almost ripped apart by the powerful weapon, and Elrohir shoved Elladan to the ground as a line of bullets hammered into the gate where they had been standing a moment before.

The helicopter hovered above the ground, firing on any who dared step into the vision of its gunner, as ropes where dropped down and soldiers repelled down, the light of the fire glinting on SIGs, helmets, and night vision goggles.

"This is obviously a realSWAT team." Elrohir muttered in his brother's ear as they pushed themselves cautiously back to their feet. "Should we be worried?"

The soldiers began to fan out about the courtyard of the complex, and three started towards the twins, weapons raised. "Remain still, and drop your weapons, or we will shoot," one called out.

"Uh, yeah," Elladan answered his brother while setting his Uzi on the ground with exaggerated care. "I'm worried."

o-0-o-0-o

Legolas could not believe his eyes, as his father rushed forward. Thranduil was dressed in black with cropped blond hair and looked more like a secret agent wanna be than the former king of _Eryn Lasgalen_.

"_Adar_," he repeated, looking with stunned eyes into his father concerned face. "_Adar_, what are you doing here? Am I dreaming? Are you real?"

His father reached down and gently touched his son's cheek, tears of relief and worry glimmering in his blue eyes. "I am here and am completely real, _ion nín_," he said, his voice calm, though it shook slightly. His face darkened as he lightly fingered his son's restraints and inspected the bruises on his face and the wound in his shoulder. "What have they done to you, _penneth_?"

"Nothing a little time won't heal," Legolas replied, a small smile working its way onto his features. He still wondered if this was but a figment of a fevered mind, but he no longer cared. If this was only a dream, then it was one he was only too happy to keep dreaming.

"How do I release these restrains?" Thranduil asked, crouching down and checking the sides of the platform for any switch or button.

"I'm guessing Kell has a master switch somewhere," Legolas replied, his shock at seeing his father slowly evaporating and being replaced by a professional sense of calmness. "He released me once, but that was only after he left the room. I believe you can release Ashley, however." He nodded towards the girl.

Thranduil stood and shifted his discerning gaze on the girl who eyed him dully in return. "Where is Shawn?"

Legolas blinked. "You knew they were here?"

"Yes," Thranduil answered grimly as he stepped beside the girl's chair and searched for a way to release her bonds. "I know much about Kell and what he does, including the fact that he watched you for a number of years before making his move."

Legolas stared at his father. "How…?"

"We can talk more of this later," Thranduil answered, his voice becoming clipped as he pressed a small button on the side of Ashley's chair, freeing the girl. "Where is Shawn?" he repeated.

Legolas closed his eyes briefly, the guilt and grief assailing him once more. "I – I tried to escape," he said at last, opening his eyes and attempting to hold back the tears. "It was foolish of me, but I was desperate. It failed miserably, and Kell, he…shot Shawn. I think he died instantly, but I don't know. Kell had shot me in the shoulder, and so I wasn't very observant at the time."

Thranduil stepped back over to his son's side and gently squeezed his hand. "It was not your fault," he said softly. "Kell is to blame for all of this. He –"

The muted rattle of machine gun fire from outside the building caused him to pause, and he sent a worried glance at the door. "I wonder who that could be."

Legolas gave a hollow laugh. "Probably Elladan and Elrohir. You know they always favor grand entrances over subtlety."

Thranduil shook his head with a small smile. "Those _gwanur_ will be the death of us yet." He turned and glanced at Ashley who still sat unmoving in her chair, her expressionless eyes staring vacantly at the elves. Satisfied that she wasn't going anywhere, he turned his attention back to the binders holding his son's wrists to the table. "We really need to get these off and get out of here. I'm not sure how fast this fire will spread, and I don't like the fact that Kell has vanished."

"You're not going anywhere." Ashley's emotionless voice caused them both to glance sharply over at her. "You've overlooked something, you know," she said, and the edges of a hateful smile began to play at the edges of her lips.

As on cue, footsteps resounded on the floor out in the hall, and Thranduil spun around to face it, his pistol gripped suddenly in his hands. For a moment, there was only silence, and then the door hissed open. Thranduil tensed, finger tightening on the trigger.

But the doorway was empty….

o-0-o-0-o

**Translations:**

_Goheno nin – _Forgive me

_fern min – _Dead one

_melch adan – _Greedy man

_Adar – _father

_penneth – _young one

_gwanur - twins_

**A/N: **Well? Did I shock anyone? I just thought people didn't give poor Thranduil enough positive attention. :-) Hope you all enjoyed it! Once again, I'm not sure when I'll post next, but I'll try not to let it drag too long. Please review! I'm grateful for your support and encouragement!

Hugs! Ila


End file.
